Distressing my Earring Holder

To give my silver earring holder a more distressed look, I started off by painting it black.  Well, I actually started by removing the earrings and taping off the edges, then I painted it black.  I wasn't worried about making sure the whole frame was painted black, because I would be painting over it white anyways.  The purpose of the black was to show through when I scuffed it up, which I did with sandpaper; actually it's more of a sandpaper sponge thing.  Unfortunately, when I did scuff it up, it scratched right through the white and the black paint in most places, but overall, I like how it turned out!

Haha, I framed James Franco.

Getting Stuff Done!

I've gotten three of my summer goals done!  Well, actually, I can only take full credit for one of them, but three things are crossed off the list!

# 1 - Get the coffee table painted white.  I decided to take the coffee table and end table home with me last week, because I'd have more room and it would be easier to get them painted there.  But, wouldn't ya know, good ole' dad did it for me :)  And to absolutely no surprise, they look amazing!  Like brand new furniture, not a $25 Craigslist find.  

Before...

and after!!!

I wasn't planning on getting rid of the rug until I had a new one to replace it with, but when I put the table down, it just didn't look good.  The bright white compared to the gray in the rug made the rug look dirty.  So I went ahead and took it out, and I really like how it looks.  It makes the room look so much bigger and brighter; I love it!

I changed up my coffee table decor, by actually putting some of my coffee table books on it.  I was able to see many of Atget's pictures that I first saw in this book, when I went to the MoMA in December, which you can read about here.

# 2 - Have the end table varnished or polyurethaned or covered with the stuff that seals it and makes it nice and shiny.   

I also changed up my end table decor, because I found this awesome lamp at Goodwill for $5.97!  It was a wine jug, but I peeled off the label.  For one thing, I didn't want people thinking I was a wino.  And secondly, I want to fill the jug with something.  Marbles would be neat, but that would be a lot of marbles.  Since this lamp was a little short on its own I brought in some more of my photography books that had been in my bedroom to give it a lift.

# 3. Paint my earring holder white and then distress it. 

Before...

and after!

Yay for crossing things off lists!

Paint window in kitchen with crackle paint, and paint something on the glass.

Get something on the wall above the kitchen sink.

Paint little table next to wicker chest.

Paint coffee table white.

Varnish the end table.

Get something on bedroom walls.

Find something to replace vase and branches on dresser.

Put new fabric on director's chair.

Repaint red and green chest.

Paint earring holder white and then distress it.

Crafty Fun Girls' Night

Like I said in my last post, I had a girls night like last night.  The agenda was simple: eat, watch chick flicks, do crafts, have a good together.  And that's exactly what we did!

Happy crafty feet :)

I don't mind this kind of mess.

Pineapple Dip

I had some girls over tonight for a "Crafty, Fun, Girls' Night at Aimee's" as I called it, which I'll blog about sometime later this weekend, and I made this pineapple dip for us to munch on.  If you like pineapple, you will most definitely like this.  It's light and sweet, and I serve it with Wheat Thins and Triscuit Thin Crisps.  And as all party/snack recipes should be, it's easy!  Three simple ingredients and just one step!

Pineapple Dip 

source: my mom

Ingredients

2 8oz. blocks of cream cheese, softened

1 package of instant vanilla pudding/pie filling

1 20oz. can of crushed pineapple

Directions

Mix all ingredients together*

Chill before serving

*I didn't just dump the pineapple in, because I didn't want it to be too runny, and I ended up not pouring in all the juice.

Aren't those lil' polka-dotted appetizer plates cute?  Mom gave them to me for Christmas

.

It does look kinda like egg salad, you just have to get over that.

 

NOVA

I was going to apologize for the week long lapse in my posting, but then I decided not to.  No apologies.  I was on vacation; my first long break since Christmas, and I was taking a break from things with buttons and screens and such.  So to fill you in a bit, after a few days at home in Lynchburg I traveled up to Northern Virginia, or NOVA as it's called, to spend the weekend with my sister and her husband.  They will be married a year this coming Tuesday, and have lived in NOVA the whole time they've been married, and this was my first time to go visit them there!  It was the perfect balance of being out and about and doing things, and sitting at home being a bum and not feeling bad about it.  And here's some pictures and a few words to sum up the best parts!

Cupcakes!  We were in a cute little shopping center with a small town, downtown vibe and we sat outside the cupcake shop, eating and people watching.  We saw a cute little boy walking around in an Iron Man mask, and a guy with his dog a few tables down from us.  We think the dog was a ploy to get girls to stop and talk to him.

Amanda got pineapple strawberry, and I got the world's perfect flavor combination: chocolate and peanut butter.

They were quite tasty.

Playing Farkle late Saturday afternoon, after a day of shopping.

 Grilling out for dinner Saturday evening.

Amanda making fried onions to go on the burgers.

Amanda partially made this box for Jonathan to tote all of his grilling supplies in.

Walking back from the grilling area to their apartment.

It was delicious!

 Sunday night we just ate a ton of popcorn for dinner and watched Storage Wars on TV.  Jonathan has this crazy UFO looking popcorn popper, and it made the best popcorn!  We ended up going through two huge bowls!

When it's done, you just flip it upside down and then lid becomes the bowl!

Home (Lynchburg)

I'm back in Virginia for a week, and currently at home in Lynchburg.  I spent most of the day downtown, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  My mom and I met a friend for lunch at the Ploughcroft Tea Room; it was very cute and charming.  Every table and chair set was different from the next.  The tea pot, sugar, and creamer dishes were all mismatched, and while each tea cup and saucer went together, there was a different one at each spot.  We ordered a pot of Darjeeling tea, and I got the cheese and onion tart for lunch, and the apple crumble for dessert.  It was all delicious!

After we ate we went across the street to an estate sales and antique store.  This place is huge!  Three floors packed full of stuff.  The main floor is mostly furniture and is pretty organized, but the top floor is where most of the housewares are, and it is just row after row after row of tons of stuff crammed on shelves.  It was overwhelming the first time I went, but now I just love it.  Mixed in with all that junk are treasures, and I love searching for them!  

Mugs!  Can you ever have too many mugs?...Probably...

Whenever I see monogrammed stuff I always look closely, my goal is to find something with all of my initials on it.  In all my years of thrifting and antique shopping I've only found a mug with an A on it.

I could have easily gotten about a dozen things today, but I managed to walk out with just two (well, I did't just walk out, I did pay for them).  I got a painting of the Lynchburg courthouse.  Whenever I make a photo/art collage I think this will be a part of it.  And I also got a cute little pitcher which I think I'm going to use to put my creamer in.

The painting was $12,

and this lil' pitcher was only $3!

And after dinner tonight I played a game with Mom and Dad.  It's called Farkle, and even though it was only my second time ever playing, I won!

Staring contest between my camera and Mom's.

Dad's nubby finger.