Making Over a Parlor in a Historic Mansion

In case you missed it, for the past few months we have been following along with a young couple knee deep in the restoration of their historic mansion in Greensburg, Indiana. Their home was built in 1871 by Bright B. Harris, a scout for Morgan's Raiders in the Civil War and they have slowly been putting their own touches on the mansion to bring it back to life.  We have seen them complete their entry, their master bedroom and their living room, even dealing with a little surprise that took Dea on a different design path than what she was thinking, and today, Dea is revealing to us her parlor.

I have shared with you that I grew up in a historic mansion in this very same town. Our home was built in 1860 and had a parlor at the front of the home. Otherwise, I'm fairly certain I would have no idea what a parlor was since that's not common home lingo. Our parlor was originally used for weddings and funerals but mostly it was a room that went largely unused in our home. I decided to look up the definition.

A parlor is essentially a formal living room, and when Dea and Christian saw the parlor it was anything but ready for entertaining visitors. 

The previous homeowners ripped out and essentially gutted some of the most charming original details of this historic mansion. The parlor's fireplace used to have a marble mantle with handmade fretwork but was stripped of all of its glory.

The original chandelier that was hanging from the center of the room was ripped out with nothing left in its place.

Dea confessed that they struggled to come up with a plan for this room and "kind of flew by the seat of our pants!" I think we can all agree, that it came together in the end to become a beautiful room worthy of entertainment and reception.

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Magnolia Market- Is it Worth a Special Visit? 5 Things You Should Consider

I just returned from Waco, Texas and if you are a Fixer Upper fan, you know all about a little store called Magnolia Market. It's actually not all that little, it's really more of a compound. Most locals know The Silos quite well. It's hard to miss them. They are this huge structure smack in the middle of the city.  In the past year, they have been breathed new life into them by Chip and Joanna Gaines and as a fan, we all know that everything that this couple touches turns to gold. The Magnolia Market and now adjoining Magnolia bakery {still super confused on what the name of this bakery is...could be Silos Baking Co. could be Magnolia Flour, not really sure.} both located on the Silos property are no exception. But if you aren't going to Waco to visit your Baylor student like I am, is it worth making a special visit to the Silos? You might be surprised by my answer.

Last year, a contest was started called #milestomagnolia. Magnolia recognized that there were people making special plans to visit Waco just because of Magnolia Market and Silos and it's become a must-see travel destination for Fixer Upper's biggest fans. 

You can even stand underneath the metal #milestomagnolia sign on the grounds and snap your picture. In the most genius marketing move ever, you can add your hashtag and picture to your social media account along with all the countless others.  In case you were wondering, it's 2,140 #milestomagnolia for me, but I have a different reason for visiting. My son is currently a freshman at Baylor University and I must say that while we were aware of the university prior to him applying there as a senior in high school, the show did help educate me a bit and opened my eyes up to the school so that I started researching it a bit more and found that it would be a great fit for my son. My first visit to Magnolia Market and the Silos was in January of this year. I wrote 5 things you should know before you visit and I did allude to the fact that if you find yourself in Waco, Texas {perhaps on a college tour like we were originally}, then you should stop. However, is it worth a special trip to visit Waco, Texas just to shop at Magnolia Market? 

 I've had a few people ask, and I'm happy to give you my opinion.

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DIY Leather Earrings

Earlier this week I shared a little tutorial with you on how to paint leather. I used those painted leather pieces to create some really easy DIY earrings that you can make in about 10 minutes. I actually used a pair of my favorite earrings as a guide {and I'm sharing the template with you} and think that I love this really lightweight pair even more than my old favorites. 

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Can You Paint Leather? I Tried, So You Don't Have To.

I love to use what I have. I'm not super picky and my motto is usually "it's good enough." Through the years, I've made things work and sometimes I get lucky and other times I fail, but usually, I don't have a whole lot invested in a project to make it matter one way or another. For instance, I found a whole big bag of leather scraps for next to nothing. I knew I couldn't pass it up because there were a hundred projects flying through my mind, but I didn't love the color of the leather. So I started wondering, can you paint leather?

I did a little experiment and used three different kinds of paint to see if I could indeed paint leather and if there was a particular secret or trick to making the leather hold the paint. Come see what I found out.

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We Did Good. Saying Goodbye to Our College Freshman.

We snuggled in tight the way we always do at night. Him beside me throwing his arm over me stroking my hair. This night was different. This would be the last night at home before I left to take our boy to his new home in Waco, Texas 2,140 miles away {but who's counting}. Aidan and I were checked in for our flight, the bags were all packed and the alarm was set for 3:30 am. He whispered to me "we did good." 
Things could have been so much different. I got pregnant at 19 while I was a sophomore in college. We had been dating for only ten months, but still I knew from the moment I met my husband that this was the man that God wanted me to marry. Things just rushed ahead a little faster than we might have planned. We heard often from surprised family and friends that we were doing a good job as parents. 
My mom commented that I took to motherhood like a duck to water. Why do I remember that? I guess, we needed those affirmations as young parents. We had a lot to prove. We wanted to do it right even when we had no idea what we were doing.
I choked back tears when my husband said that to me. We made it to the end. This thing called parenthood that we started together was ending and our relationship with our son was evolving.

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How to Detail Your Car at Home

This is a sponsored post written on behalf of HomeRight. All opinions are 100% my own. 

One of the biggest investments that we make is our car. My last car {a mini van I lovingly called Thelma} was 12 years old when I was forced to replace her after a car accident totaled my car. We enter into some pretty long term relationships with our cars, and we want them to last, so we do our best to take care of them. Even if you don't plan on keeping your car until it sputters and dies, it's still nice to hop into a clean car where you don't stick to the seats. As a mom, I spend a lot of time driving kids around and running errands. My car is my second home. I like a clean house, and I like a clean car. I'm going to show you how you can detail your car at home and keep the inside of your car looking new for many years no matter how much use your car gets.

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Watermelon Vanilla Floats

When I think of summer foods, I immediately think of watermelon. We almost always have a watermelon in our refrigerator. I probably eat my weight in watermelon during the summer, and since I'm one that likes to keep summer around for as long as possible, I'm sharing this recipe for these yummy watermelon vanilla floats. These floats are refreshing and delicious and perfect to serve anytime to keep the summer feeling going strong!

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RN Approved College Dorm First Aid Kit

This week, I'm sending my oldest son off to college. I have been mentally trying to prepare for this week for pretty much all of his high school years. I'm in denial. It's hard to believe that it's time to launch one of my babies into the world. For the past 18 years I have been the one there caring for him every time he's gotten a sniffle and I've been the one to patch up his cuts. I won't be around to do that anymore. While he will have access to a fabulous student health center, it's inevitable that in the next few years, he will need something to help him with some minor ailments. So I put together this RN approved college dorm first aid kit so he has easy access to most of the common over the counter medicines that he will likely need.

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8 Ways My Life Has Changed Since Having Kids

disclosure: This is a sponsored post brought to you by the Mom it Forward Blogger Network and Poise. All opinions are 100% my own.

It's been more than 10 years now since I had my last baby. For a while there, pregnancy and birth were happening every three years for me like clockwork. Having babies and raising a young family is pretty much all I did in my twenties. But now, it's been a decade since I had my last baby. Hard to believe that that particular phase of my life is over. Now I'm settling into our new normal...life with a pre-teen and two teenagers, one of which is on his way out the door to college. I'm launching kids y'all. I'm like a parenting expert now with 18 years of this gig under my belt and yet when a pregnant mama saunters by, it's not hard to remember that phase of my life.

Having been a decade since my last pregnancy though, I have noticed that there are a few marks that pregnancy and childbirth have left behind.  I'm sharing 8 ways that my life has changed since having kids. If you are a parent, my guess is that you can relate to at least a few of them.

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Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake

I love having a garden. About this time of year I always get an abundant supply of zucchini and I rack my brain trying to come up with ideas on how to prepare it. This chocolate chip zucchini cake is a real crowd pleaser. Most people don't even know they are getting a full serving of vegetables in just one slice! My non-veggie loving kids gobble this up too. I'm excited to share the recipe with you today. 

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The Essential Shopping List for the College Dorm Essentials

This is a sponsored post for Procter & Gamble/Bed Bath & Beyond. All opinions are 100% my own. 

My oldest son just graduated from high school and will be leaving next week for college. He's heading out of state, more than 2000 miles away from home, something his father did two decades ago himself. I wouldn't say that we are experts at this college thing, we are learning just like the rest of the wide-eyed freshman and their parents. But with my husband's out of state college experience in mind, we put together The Essential Guide to Going Out of State to College Guide.  Now that we are down to the final countdown, we have put together a list of the essential items that we will need to go shopping for when the airplane wheels hit the ground in his new home state.
My husband tells the story of  how his freshman year he packed a bottle of Tide laundry detergent in a box that he shipped to school. When he got to school he found that the Tide had exploded in route and everything was dripping in laundry detergent. He spent hours washing his belongings in the community bath tub {the only time he says he used it...wonder why?} trying to get the detergent off. His life lesson was, you don't have to ship everything. Our mantra has been buy it when you get there.

With that in mind, we are creating a free printable list of those essential items to buy when we get there. Hopefully you find it helpful too.

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Back To School First Day Chalkboard With Free Cut File

Please tell me I'm not the only one who loves the Target One Spot. It's always the first place that I look when I stop into the store, even if I'm in a hurry, I always make time to take a look around because you never know what you might be missing. I found this really cool chalkboard that was made with what looked like rulers framing it in. I knew exactly what I would make with it. 

My kids all started school pre-Pinterest. While not all bad, there have been some things shared on Pinterest that I would have liked to use to document my children's childhoods. I always loved the seeing the first day signs with my friends kids full of information about the year. Information that you don't always remember as years pass. So, while this isn't necessarily an idea that my kids will use {my youngest is heading to middle school with multiple teachers}, it would be the perfect use for a One Spot frame so that you could document those pre-school and elementary years. I'm excited to share the file with you so that you can make one of your own!

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How to Throw a Lego Birthday party

How to Throw a Lego Birthday party

My youngest son Owen celebrated his 5th birthday with a Lego themed birthday party today.

If you remember a few weeks ago, I showed you the invites that I made. Today, I am going to show you what else I threw together for the party. And I am thankful to say that I was able to do it on a pretty small budget.

When the guests arrived they were greeted by the birthday boy and got their picture taken with the gigantic lego brick that I made. I got a new vacuum cleaner a few weeks ago, saved the box and glued on plastic cups then painted it green (all things I had on hand). The banner was made out of cardstock that I bought for $1 at a garage sale last week and I printed the letters in Word then cut them out and glued them on.

When my 8 year old daughter heard about her brother's lego party she set to work making a gigantic birthday cake out of legos. It took her several weeks and many hours, but she finished it and we even had legos to spare!

Didn't she do a great job? I was amazed at her dedication to finish the project and at the vision she had to design the cake all on her own. It ended up being quite a complex project.

I made little favor bags for the guests with candy lego bricks
Thankfully, our local grocery store carries them in their bulk candy section and for $12 I was able to get nearly 3 pounds. I found some lego clipart on-line and made up bag toppers (free).
We spent the first hour of the party making lego creations, playing with already built legos (O's got a really cool electric lego train that I got at a garage sale years ago for $10), and having lego tower building contests.

The cakes were definitely not professionally done, but the set of 5 year olds that I was trying to impress thought they were pretty awesome! I took a good old fashioned store cake mix (85cents) and baked it in two loaf pans. My original idea was to put cupcakes on top and frost them but after talking to some people who had done that before I thought I would try marshmallows. I cut the marshmallows in half and after frosting the cake I put the marshmallows on a fork, frosted them, then slid them off onto the cake.

We played a game of pin the spot on the lego

Some got closer than others! I bought two pieces of red poster board at Wal-Mart for 45 cents and traced a bowl to make the circles. Wal-mart also had square plates in primary colors, as well as napkins in primary colors ($2.50 for both).

I was told by my birthday boy that a party isn't a party without a pinata, so I had to scurry and get a pinata for the little guy! I had every intention of making one, but with my crazy busy week, I couldn't do it all. And thankfully, Owen was quite pleased with picking out the authentic burro pinata at our local grocery store for $7. I filled it with bulk candy ($3) and legos that I got at a garage sale for $2.

The party cost less than $35 to throw and everyone seemed to have a great time. Just going to prove that you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a great party.

I'm linking up here

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Updating Boring School Supplies with Duck Tape

Update Boring School Supplies with Duck Tape 

I know many of you already have kids that have headed back to school. Not us. We still have more than three weeks of summer left and we are not rushing it! However, all of the stores are overflowing with school supplies which has my kids thinking that it's time to restock. I was with my daughter in Walmart the other day, and we saw this great display for Duck Tape. Did you know you could buy so many different prints and patterns? My tween daughter is heading to middle school and is very artsy and creative. She loves bold prints and patterns and immediately fell in love with the chevron Duck Tape® and coordinating green and pink rolls.

We bought a few school supplies and scrounged a few that we had at home that were still in good enough condition to use for another year. So plain and boring, especially for my artsy middle schooler.

We started glamming up these same old same old composition notebooks. Three rolls of Duck Tape...three notebooks with endless possibilities!

It was so easy, you don't need a tutorial, but I will show you one of the steps in the process as we took tape and covered the outer cover.

Next up, we tackled the boring clear clipboard. We started covering it with tape in the same way we covered the notebooks.

The problem with clipboards is that they have the metal top that makes it difficult to work around. The tape molded easily around and cut clean.

Because I have two boys, my pencil stash had some skull covered mechanical pencils in it.

They just weren't cutting it for my daughter so we covered those in Duck Tape  too!  

Nothing is safe!!! I just removed the top of the pencil and the lead 

and measured out a piece of tape the length of the pencil that I wanted covered.

Amazing new coordinating pencils you would have never guessed were covered in skulls before!

I love using what I have to make something awesome!

My daughter and I had so much fun making all new school supplies with some new {and old} items.

She ended up with a chevron Duck Tape binder, notebook, clipboard, three composition notebooks, a pencil box, pencils and those bows?  Those are coordinating magnets for her very first locker!

All it took was a little Duck Tape and less than an hour.

Those school supplies went from a boring before to a fabulous after, just in time for my artsy tween daughter to start middle school!

Instead of reaching out for those overpriced overdecorated school supplies, let your kids get creative this year.   Save money!

Use what you have or stock up on the cheaper boring stuff and let your kids give their back to school supplies a fun makeover.

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Easy to Make Watercolor Cloth Napkins

Easy to Make Watercolor Cloth Napkins

I gave you all a little sneak peek to this project when I revealed my embroidery hoop chandelier. I was part of a thrift store challenge, where another blogger went shopping at a thrift shop {on a budget of course!} and sent me a box of goodies that I could create with. I saw a few things in the box that automatically shifted my brain into creative mode, the embroidery hoops were one of them, the plain cloth napkins were the other.  I'm excited to share with you how I used paint in my cabinet to create these watercolor napkins.

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How to Make Your Own Glitter Yeti Cup

I love my cold drinks, and with these amazing DIY Glitter Yeti Cups, I can confidently drink my cold drinks year round! Even when it's, well, cold. I just like a refreshing drink. I'm seeing these cups {the name brand is Yeti} everywhere and I know why! They are great at keeping your cold drinks cold and your hot drinks hot. So why not take some spray paint and spray glitter and give them some personality. You can even add some vinyl and create a fun image on your cup. I'm so excited to show you how to do it!

Recently our family went on a trip to Playa Mujeres, Mexico. If you read my 6 tips for getting the most out of a resort vacation, you would see that tip number 6 is why I made this spray painted glittered cold cup. It was HOT HOT HOT and drinks would stay cold in my cup, which was such a welcome relief from the heat. In fact, I left my iced coffee in my car for five hours when I went to the mall the other day and when I got back in my car, the ice was still in the cup. No joke! This cup is seriously impressive.

Shine with Your Own Glitter Yeti Cup

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Holy Craft is now Rachel Teodoro! Come See the Changes!

Hey guys! I just wanted to pop in and interrupt my regularly scheduled posts to point out all the new changes that are happening here on the blog. I was waiting for the dust to settle a bit before I walked you through the new blog and the new look. I really hope you like what you see. I may even point out features you had no idea even existed. In case you didn't know, Holy Craft is now Rachel Teodoro. Why the change? I'm so excited to share with you a bit of the insider information!

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Easy to Make Leather Key Chain

Several weeks ago, I found a woman at a garage sale who was selling a big bag of leather pieces. I didn't really have a project in mind, but I also had a hard time passing up the bag of leather scraps because I knew that I would regret it. It didn't take long for project ideas to start popping into my head, like this one. In under 10 minutes I whipped up these personalized leather key chains and I want to show you how you can easily make your own, even if you don't find a garage sale with scrap leather at it!

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