EAT, ATE AND... Voila, Bon Appetit!

I posted this picture a couple weeks ago, and have finally gotten around to finishing (for now) the EAT letters. I picked these pretties up at a yard sale in salt Lake for $5. They were the ugly Black with a red crackle design.

I spray painted them black and had them staggered on top of my Fridge plain for a while. And when I could stand it no longer I had to give them a "woman's touch."

On the wall in my Kitchen

I mod podged these paper letters I had gotten from Target ages ago right onto the painted surface of the wood letter. I then tied the ribbon around the bottom. I did not fasten or glue the ribbon. I did this because who knows down the road, when I get bored or move what color scheme my kitchen will be. This way I can simply remove the ribbon and coordinate it with the most current color swatch.



If you have any design suggestions, tips or questions please feel free to comment or email me at hollyaitken@gmail.com

California or BUst!

Sunday Night I got home after a fun filled night at the Hamptons, and Ronda was on the phone with a very special girly Q... Kristi Kate. One of my very best friends. We got to talking and decided we wanted to go to California... We are young and single and it is summertime. Why Not? The Beach turned into Disney land so now I am going to go and see Mickey Mouse.
I am so excited! I am driving to Vegas on Thursday. We drive to Cali on Friday, stay at the Beach, bask in the ocean, and head for a fun filled day of Mickey and Minnie and the gang all day Saturday! Soo Much Fun! I am very excited!

Remove Miley Cyrus and insert Self...

I will for sure post pictures of our trip. I am very excited! I was in third grade the last time I went to Disneyland.

Happy Belated fourth of July

Well, I had a late start this year on my fourth of July decorations, however I did finally get my "Americana Spread" finished last night. Here she is... I like it!
My two teasers from yesterday are done and here is the BIG Reveal...


I definately need to make a big tall firecracker or something with height on the left but for now this is what I have got.

This was $3.00. I am really pleased with how this turned out. I mod podged scrapbook paper over the label on the bottom and added the little decal. I painted with acrylic the red border and sprayed with a clear gloss in order to help the "scratch factor. added the final touch... Ribbon and voila! AMeriCAnA at it's best!


THis is what I did with the old window I found behind an antique store. I got the idea from Stacie (Creative Crate) I am new to the whole blogging world and just figured out how to post a link. Yoo Hoo! I want to give credit where credit is due. Love it! Thank you Stacie! You can find her tutorial Here.



I didn't want it to look Perfect because of the antiquity of the wood and if you notice there are 64 stars... But who's counting anyway? hahaha

I made this sign with mod podge paper, acrylic paint and cut out letters. It did not turn out exactly as I pictured but it will do for the whole ambiance of the Fourth of July. IT is RED, WHITE, & BLUE and it GLITTERS so it works.

So you can see why I am starting early on my Halloween preparations, other wise when I should be posting about Thanksgiving or Christmas, I will still be back at Halloween.

It doesn't hurt to be prepared... For Halloween, Right?

I know I know, it is July and I already know what I want to be for Halloween. The truth is I knew back in December that I wanted to be a certain special lady for Halloween. I love Halloween. Not the blood and guts and gore, just the fun of dressing up, going to Haunted houses, and fun parties with dry ice, homemade Root Beer and Pumpkin Carving. Any excuse to have a party and you know that I love it!
So, why when we hadn't even broached Christmas was I already planning for my Halloween Costume the following year... One Word. Scrooged! A beloved and off the wall Christmas Movie I love that was my muse and inspiration. Just Look at her, who wouldn't want to be her?

This is The GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT...

I know how funny it will be to be a Christmas Icon for Halloween, but it can be done right? People do it all the time.

This character is hilarious. I am even contemplating taking a toaster around with me as she hits Bill Murray's character in the head with it in the movie. I am so excited! Now I just have to find a sweet pink prom style dress that is very poofy. I will of course add my own "special" touch, but oh my are the ideas flowing. I love Halloween. I am planning on having a fun Halloween Party this year, so in order for it to be a blast I need to start planning now.

Harry Potter 6 Midnight Showing...

I started a semi tradition a long time ago when Harry Potter first came out. I worked at the Five Star Cinemas during High School and we got to go to all Midnight premiere showings for free. YOu know, so that we could tell people an educated opinion on the movies showing at the theater. Work, or no work the next day, I always make the Harry Potter premieres. I love it. We went to the Allen 8 theaters here in Farmington. IT was PACKED! We got there an hour early and still had to sit on the fourth row. They sold out all eight movie theaters for the midnight showing. I am sure that it was that way Nationwide so I don't feel so bad about being a crazy HP Fan.
This is me waiting for the show to start. We had an hour to sit and wait around so we thought we would kill the time by capturing the moment.

Here is Coley... Nicole. I just love her. She is so fun! Her and I were the lucky ones who got to go and save the seats.

The movie was really good. A little slow to start. Nicole looked at her phone so I asked her for the time and she said "It is 1:15 and the show is just barely starting." They did a very good job. Especially with the tragedy of Dumbledore's death. For those of us who have read all seven books, they did a really good job of eluding to things that were explained in #7. Love it! When does seven come Out?

One project down, three more started...

I blogged a couple weeks ago about this Framed Family wall hanging I wanted to do and I have finally completed it!!! It took a really long time and I had to take a lot of Breaks (if you know what I mean) but it is well worth the effort. I love the end result.
So this is the picture I was going off of. All it takes for me normally is a picture and I figure out my own way to get it done...


Voila!!! These are my finished frames... Sorry for the Glare.




I first found some varying size frames.. THanks Dollar Store. Painted them all Black. I printed the letters that I wanted in the sizes I wanted off the computer. I traced them on the glass with a sharpie. I painted on the inside the letters. I then Glued them into the frame, added a little Ribbon. I can never have too much Ribbon and hung.

I am not leaving them all alone on the wall. I have two little shelves that I want to hang with or around the frames and I also want to put black and white pictures of my family up in black frames around the Framed Letters... So excited!

Here are two teasers of my two upcoming projects... I found this old window in the back of an antique shop sitting up against the back wall. It was full of spiders and dirt and is perfect for my next project.


I have always loved the big metal stars that people hang or display on mantles and walls. I love them. However they are so dang expensive and I just cannot justify spending $30-$40 for something to hang on my wall. I found this little goody at an antique/craft store here in Farmington. It is a chip and salsa bowl and I found it for $3.00. I have already started painting and mod podging and gluing and it is going to be really cute. Very Excited! Will post final product when done.

From Drab to Fab REDO!!!

Well I posted my necklace holder that took all but 10 minutes to make. I wasn't happy with the end product as there was brown. I am not the biggest fan of brown wood. I got the go ahead to paint it, so I did. I think it looks much much better.
I love ribbon and spray paint. A Crafty Girls best friend!
I am much happier with this end result... Scroll down to see the before and now the big Finish! Love it!

Hooray for Vinyl... I am lucky enough to work in at a glass shop where we use vinyl letting to do sandblast etching, so I seized the moment and asked Wyatt how to take the image I painted and turn it into vinyl. I painted the yellow. we scanned it. after a lot of computer manipulation to get the lines straight and the cuts right... this is the end result. One of my favorite quotes. I made this in brown and white. And in Black and Red... so purrty!

Having oh so much fun!

Moving into the basement apartment of my new Casa has flipped the creative swith in my head and I have jumped head first into crafting and Making my House a "Home!" I love it! I am having so much fun! Here are some of the little cute projects I have been working on!
First, all this crafting and repurposing/reusing had me looking for some good yard sale finds... I found these at a yard sale in Salt Lake when I was up for the weekend to see my family. $7.50 later and I have some great raw material to work with and make beautiful!

The Letters are Pottery Barn and spell out EAT ATE or TEA... Too cute

Did I mention I love spray paint??

This is obviously not the finished product, but when it is complete you know that there will be pictures.

This little jewel here, was a $10.00 plain white lamp that I got at Wal-Mart. It was boring. So I spray painted the base, added a touch of ribbon and voila, a sweet little lamp for the bedside.

Lit Up...

I made this cute wreath with an inexpensive vine I got at walmart and then hot glued the sunflowers on. I found the WeLcome wood sign at the dollar store and tried it white, yellow and black. White Popped... so it stayed

Meet Brandon... Soo soo so Cute!

On June 20th,5 minutes after Midnight My sweet little nephew Brandon was born. He is so cute. My little sister Jan carried him for the full nine months and gave birth via C-section to a healthy little boy after 20 hours of labor. Bless her heart! He is so sweet and a very handsome little boy. I am so proud of my Pongy Lou! She did such a good job and is such a good little Mommy. I love her so much and I am so grateful for all my neices and nephews. I love them. They bring me joy... Here he is.


He has my little sister's butt chin. YOu can compare in this picture. I have the butt chin too. He is too precious. A very precious little baby boy.

Baby Chicks

I am now the proud new owner/babysitter of six little baby chicks. How did this happen and where in the world would I get an idea like that?
His name is Jason... haha He loves animals and would take them all home if he could.

Jason and I went on a quest Friday for some personalized photography for the walls of my apartment and while on this quest, Jason got the idea to go and look at chickens. So, a long story short, I ended up with six little, fluffy, cute, baby chicks that live in a fish aquarium on my fireplace mantle. "They are really cute." Those are the words I spoke that sealed my fate. I said those four little words and Jason couldn't resist, he had to buy them. So I am "babysitting" them until they are old enough to go with the rest of Jason's older Chickens. He is so funny. Who would've thought that I would ever own a chicken? Jason says it is Food Storage, but we all know that he could never eat one of his pets.