BFF Open House Oops!

Happy first day of July and Happy Friday. Our move is complete ( except for the unpacking fun but I have my kitchen mostly set up) and with wrapping up some things at our former location I forgot my own party! This will hopefully be the last week w/out features. If I said that last week, chalk it up to aggressive optimism! 

Apologies for the delay and let's get right to it! Wishing everyone a safe Fourth. 

 

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BFF Open House

 

Whew! Happy Friday Eve all. Hope your week is going well. It's been busy on this end and we're about 3/4 of the way done w/ our move with the remaining portion early next week. Then of course there's the other side of unpacking, figuring out places for things to go, assessing what needs making over to fit with a different style house than we've had before, etc. etc. So many ideas are swirling, it's non-stop. All of our stuff works but I want to change up some accent pieces so I'll have no shortage of projects.  Here's one quick pic of my current state of disaster but once we're there full time it will get sorted quickly. 

Mr. Chocolate's comment: "That's a whole Michael's Store in that closet". Not really. There's JoAnn's too. 

One more week of no features and than you for the supportive comments last week and for understanding. You all are the BEST! 

OK let's see what you've all been up to since I'm not even sure what supplies are where! 

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BFF Open House : No Features This Week

 

Happy Mid June / Pride Month / Friday Eve. No features this week.  I alluded to something a few weeks ago and that something is we're moving and I'm worn out! 

You'd think we'd be pros at this having moved from Seattle 4 years ago and then again within Arizona last year. When we moved states, we weren't sure where we wanted to BE in AZ so we leased a house to get a feel for where we wanted to be.  Welp, COVID hit and that delayed things. We loved the area we were in and the woman who owned the house was lovely and wanted to sell it to us which we briefly considered but while it was beautiful on the outside and the property was great, it was older and as we lived in it discovered how much work it needed in addition to updates inside. We didn't blame her when she decided to put it on the market last year since it was on fire. But timing is everything and I ended up in the hospital around the same time and Mr. Chocolate found us another place because we still hadn't looked for our forever home. 

We finally had a chance to do that this year, found a home we LOVE, bought, and are in the process of moving to.

The biggest surprise has been Mr. Chocolate wanting me to make over some things we have because he isn't by nature one who envisions those things and has resisted that idea before so after we get settled, prepare for some fun projects. We also have lots of wall space to decorate and he's requested some DIY art. I'll be busy! 

But for now, in between 2 houses for a bit, and with packing to finish, it's just a party this week. 

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BFF Open House

 

Hello lovelies! Happy Friday Eve to you all and hope you've been having a good and creative week. Temps are normalizing at triple digits here in the desert but I will still always take the dry heat over lower temps with higher humidity. 

Father's Day is heading towards us quickly and before you know it the Fourth of July and annual "Christmas in July" posts will start ot hit the blogosphere and the stores won't be far behind! But in the meantime, let's enjoy Summer right? Here are some ideas to do just that! 

Nothing says Summer like butterflies and what a wonderful idea for cards like this beauty from Paper Seedlings! Could be used for so many occasions. Love the colors! 

Speaking of Father's Day, how cute is this pillow from Laura Kelly using  Infusible Ink?! 

I absolutely love the look of these Burlap Containers from Masterpieces of My Life. 

Finally, check out these Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Bars from Cindy's Online Recipe Box with instructions to make them with sugar, or sugar-free! 

Thanks to everyone who linked up and let's see what you've all been up to this week. 

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BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve! Happy JUNE! Yikes. Things have a way of speeding up from here. It's hard to believe we're already in the sixth month of 2022 but here we are. Hope you've all had a wonderful week. June is Graduation and Wedding season as well as the end of school for many. I remember the excitement of counting down the days until the end of the school year, even though it's been "a minute". 

Very honored to have received not one but TWO Hometalk features recently! The first for a Summer project I did a while ago: Easy Summer Decor . The second is for a more recent project: Layered Rose Monogram.  If you're not familiar with Hometalk, you really should check it out. Not only is it another great source of inspiration, but they are also so supportive of creative bloggers with things like features, webinars, newsletters etc. You can follow me on there here. There are also sister sites for DIY Fashion and Cooking. Upstyle and Foodtalk. 

Let's take a look at some of the fun ideas shared at last week's party! 

Two Chicks and a Mom shared these awesome DIY Graduation Pinatas that are so cute! 

You "do nut" want to miss this idea from Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams. Baking Pans Turned Wall Decor! Calorie free. 

I did something similar when my son was young and there's something about kids having something fun to check off doing their chores, Summer or all year round. This is a great one from Lamberts Lately is perfect! 

Finally, ice cream just screams Summer and what better way to celebrate the season than with some DIY Wall Art / Summer Ice Cream Painting?! From Love My Little Cottage. 

Thanks to everyone who shared their amazing creativity and let's see what you've been up to this week! 

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BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve all and Happy Memorial Day Weekend which always feels weird to me since it's the holiday where we honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. Maybe that's just me. I try to keep things focused on the creative here because like everyone else, I need a break from the harsh realities of the world but the past two weeks of carnage between Buffalo and Uvalde are taking their toll. Just keeping it real. 

I hope you've all had a creative week. I managed to do a quick project which was to "Faux" stain my knife block. You can see it here. It may or may not (but may) be getting ready to be in a new space soon! 😏 

Lots of you are getting ready for Summer so let's take a look at some ideas we can try. 

Whether you have a small or large patio, Summer is S'Mores time! What a fun and a great way to make small or even individual DIY Mini Fire Pits for them! From Artsy Fartsy Mama. 

Hello Sewing shared how to make something pretty and practical, always a winning combination with this Rope Bowl Basket. Don't worry if you don't sew. There's also a no-sew option. 

The aptly named Creatively Beth has a fun way to change out seasonal decor without needing a lot of space for each season with this Interchangeable Holiday Decor Sign. 

Finally, these Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cream Frosted Cupcakes from The Kitchen Is My Playground would be a great dessert to add to a Memorial Day dessert table! 

Thanks to all who linked up and for sharing your creativity here each week. Wishing everyone a safe long weekend. 

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Easy Project: Faux Stained Knife Block

 

Ever look at something debate about changing it, debate some more, then one day you just say "What the heck" and go for it? I've had my Knife Block since we got married. It's 30 years old. And it was fine in its original form. Aging well. Bothering no one. Sitting there, minding its business, holding my knives. 

But, it might be going to a new home. Still with me, however. So I decided "What the heck" and made it over with a faux-stain effect. Mr. Chocolate always freaks out and looks at me funny when I decide to mess with "perfectly good" things but turns out...HE LOVES IT! 

Supplies

• Knife Block
• Acrylic Paints
• Water

It's faded over the years but still in great condition. I washed it to make sure there were no residual oils or anything. 

You can see it wasn't quite dry but since the stain is water-based, no big deal. I mixed some white acrylic paint into some black paint diluted with water until I got a shade of grey I liked. Then I just lightly brushed onto the knife block which drank it up. I wanted a stain vs paint effect, hence diluting with the water. 

You can still see the wood grain which is what I wanted. It was still wet in this pic so dried even grainier. 

I used a small brush to blend the edges of the slots but only just so the wood didn't show. I did this project in the morning and let it dry all day to make sure the "stain" was good and set. 

Mr. Chocolate has appropriated one of my knives for his nightly apple and I keep pretending like I don't need to replace it because we don't share well! There's also the knife that accidentally got thrown away with a birthday cake box several years ago 😠😠😠

I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and it will look great "wherever it might end up". 

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