AmandaCarver Designs

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Not everyone feels the need to decorate for Valentines day, and there are absolutely better ideas out there (do you like all my qualifiers?) but here is what I made to make my house festive for Febrruary 14th. All I needed was 5 sheets of .29 cent felt from Joanne’s Fabric..total..like $1.50. This took about 1o minutes… Pretty easy to dissect..but, I cut a few rectangles and then the letters and a few hearts. I also cut a few holes in each rectangle and hot glued the ribbon through each letter, here are few close ups… Happy Valentine’s Day!

Vanity Mirror?

When I decorated Sam Stroud’s downtown office and studio I used this mirror for the vanity. I just loved the shape and how it was an unexpected touch above the sink. The brand is Roth and Allen and I purchased it from Lowes. Then I was catching up on one of my favorite blogs..Young House Love (if you haven’t been here, you should and allow for at least a few hours to catch up on all their projects.) They are featured in all kinds of magazines and have about a million people following them. Anyways, I saw that they chose this same framed mirror for their vanity..And they painted it white..click here to check it out. Looks awesome white as well. Usually when we choose a vanity mirror, we go the traditional rectanular shape..but this is a fun, alternative to

Hot-gluing curtains

First I wanted to say a great big THANKS for all your emails, comments and sweet thoughts about our kitchen progress. It’s really fun to share this journey with you all.Now..onto today… Well I hot glued some curtains this weekend and thought you might want to try it yourself? Here is the process. I love the look of roman shades, but certainly can’t afford the $40 a piece ones I really like. Here is my solution. 0. Get a yard of fabric you love. This was a remnant, so it was $8 and I still have a little less than half a yard remaining. You could even splurge on fabric! 1. First measure the size of the window you are covering and decide how long you want the curtain to be. These will be stationary (they are hot glued, people..what

A Kitchen on its way

When we bought our new house our kitchen looked like this. This is from the sink looking towards the dinning room where they had a “eat in” type of nook. And here is from the nook towards the sink area. All out-dated and super boxed in. So, we opened up the wall between the dining room and the kitchen. And ended up with this! (looking out now toward, den, dining room and living room). Here are the new countertops and back splash. We hit an amazing deal and were able to get granite for the same at the high definition laminate we were considering. Also Nic replaced the back splash with a nice wide bead board. I painted it close to the color of the walls since eventually the cabinets will be painted creme. And the newly tiled floors. We

Wedding?

Made this the other day and it made me wish I was getting married (again to the same incredible man, of course). This can be purchased as a clip or brooch and would look awesome on the waist of a gown or in a low hair knot. The center of the flower is a repurposed antique earring. Let me know if you are interested!

Aloha

We are in Maui. sigh. smile. It has been.. wonderful and stressful and relaxing and tiring and wonderful to see my family. Here is a cousin shot I snapped one night while they were wathing Toy Story…These sweet babies only get to see eachother once or twice a year, so we cherish these times.

Button Initial In Process

I showed you in this post how I took a hideous painting and re-used the frame with some remnant fabric. I wanted to have Caroline’s initial on her wall and decided this was my chance. Do you remember those books where you stare at them for a long time and then all the sudden a T-rex pops off the page and it’s amazing that you dint see it all along? That is sorta how this initial turned out, but I still actually really love it. Here are a few close up shots..If you are wanting to try one of these..Just get the basic shape of the letter with chalk and then use larger buttons to create a base of the shape..then take the fun, smaller ones and layer them on. I used hot glue and it was easy to get

DIY moss balls

I saw a tutorial on this blog for making moss topiary balls. I loved the idea..here is my own quickie version… Get a package of Moss from Michaels (Use a 40% off coupon and it will total $3.50) Find some round object to cover..The foam balls were overpriced (I thought), So I found the ugliest ornaments I could..and they were 90% off and came to 70 cents a piece! Which is great, since they already have the perfect opening for a pole or stick. Then..super easy construction..Hot glue on the ornament..moss on the glue. Easy! And voila! So cute! I will probably put them all on sticks eventually, but (its too stinking cold to hunt for just the right sticks right now). So, in the mean time I love them on random items from around the house. I was really

A few Thrift store finds

I am loving industrial looking pieces lately…like this weird wire stand. It makes a cool little side table. This was from the Goodwill, $5. I will give you a high five if you know what this might have been used for originally! Then I scored this, fresh out of a classroom, chalkboard. Caroline is loving it. Its about 5×3 feet and cost, $6.50. Also, a nice way to fill up a wall (that is fairly hidden) in the new basement/playroom. This table with sides that fold out..love the grey color, the wheels, and the very industrial look. DAV $15. This classic globe, Goodwill, $4. and this awesome breadbox, which was actually a gift from a friend. These are certainly not your typical decor pieces, but all together they are creating a fun, eclectic look. I love me some thrift store

Lots of empty walls, not lots of spending cash

We recently finished our basement (we are so thankful) but now have very little budget left for decor. One thing I do have…a heck of a lot of determination (and did I mention no training in painting or art of any kind??) I was, however, inspired by the Ballard Deisgns abstract art pieces, like these: These cost between $300 and $350. So I picked up some “mess up” paint colors at Lowes for a total of $3.50, used a canvas I had from a previous project (that had gone very badly) and tried my hand at abstract “art.” Here is what I got…I think I might actually like it. Does it look too pre-school finger painting project? I have many more walls to fill, and it might be fun to do several others in similar colors (but different patterns?) and

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AmandaCarver Designs

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LOVE Banner

Vanity Mirror?

Hot-gluing curtains

A Kitchen on its way

Wedding?

Aloha

Button Initial In Process

DIY moss balls

A few Thrift store finds

Lots of empty walls, not lots of spending cash

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