Living Room Mirrors Take 2

Remember a few weeks ago when I shared my mirror conundrum?  In case you need a refresher or are visiting for the first time (welcome!), I scored these two HUGE mirrors (they're 4 feet tall!) at a flea market for a measly $15 each, brought them home and painted them white, which I thought would go FAB with my new Sterling walls.

Turns out, they just kind of blended in and made no statement at all:

So, I finally got around to taping them off again and decided to go with oil rubbed bronze this time, to match my curtain rod.  They look black from far away but they have a subtle sheen to them when you get up close.  After painting one and hanging it back up, I could already tell I liked it SO much better, but wondered... what if I mirrored (ha!) the french doors and made them look like windows?  Hmm...

By George, I think I've got it!  But just to make sure, I painted the other one and hung it up to see which I liked better:  window panes or no window panes.

I decided that the window panes gave the mirrors a little extra oomph, and don't you think every room needs a little oomph?

I made the "panes" with black electrical tape.  I made the two vertical lines first, using a tape measure as I went up to make sure my line-o-tape was straight, then repeated for the three horizontal lines.  I measured one of the panes on the french door to get my measurements.  It probably took 10-ish minutes for each mirror.  Electrical tape comes in all different colors and is perfect for this kind of project because it's a little bit stretchy and a wee bit shiny.

Oh, and if I ever change my mind about the window pane look, I can peel the tape right off.  But for now, I think I'm diggin' it.  So much better than the white, don't you think?

I sometimes participate in these parties:  Sunday: DIY Showoff, I Heart Naptime, Flamingo Toes, It's Overflowing;  Monday: Sew Chatty, Monday Funday, Sew Can Do, Today's Creative Blog, Craft-O-Maniac, Mad in Crafts, Skip to My Lou;  Tuesday: Not Just a Housewife, A Bowl Full of Lemons;  Wednesday: Someday Crafts, We Are THAT Family, Ginger Snap Crafts;  Thursday: House of Hepworths, The Girl Creative, Seven Thirty Three, The CSI Project, A Glimpse Inside, Between U and Me;  Friday: My Repurposed Life, Whipperberry, Tatertots and Jello;  Saturday: Funky Junk Interiors

Snapshots: Disney Edition

I decided to bring my nice camera to Disney World this time, and although I was a nervous wreck the whole time worrying about it getting broken on Space Mountain, I'm glad I brought it because I got some cool shots.

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and splurged for a savanna view room, and it did not disappoint!  We only saw one giraffe the whole time we were there but these horned creatures loved this little spot in front of our room.

The whole reason I decided to bring my camera was because we were going on a behind-the-scenes tour of Magic Kingdom (the Keys to the Kingdom tour).  Sadly, no photography is allowed in the utilidor or backstage, but the slower pace of the day (no rushing from Space Mountain to Splash Mountain and back again!) made for good photo-taking opportunities.

I had a sit-down with Roy and Minnie.  (Our tour meet-up place was right next to this statue and do you know how many times groups came by and said "Let's get our picture with Walt Disney and Minnie!" and I wanted to say "Do you know nothing? That's Roy!")

Our tour group stopped at a corner on Main Street to wait for our guide to run back to City Hall and get another headset for one of the people on the tour.  This PhotoPass photographer was right in front of us and he was so nice.  It was Mother's Day so he wished all the moms a happy day and called all the kids princes and princesses.  I can't imagine keeping up such a happy demeanor all day long.

Our tour guide, Rachel, was very knowledgeable and funny.  She was from Massachusetts so she said "drar" and "draring" instead of draw and drawing.  Those were the only words her Mass accent came out in, though.

Walt's window above the ice cream shop on Main Street.

This Minnie statue is one of the ones that surround the Partners statue in front of the castle.  Oh how I love that image of Walt and Mickey.

Because of our tour, we were able to get into the Magic Kingdom before it actually opened and it was deserted!  I mean, look at this picture of Steven - no one in the background!  Crazy!

Of course, each time we visit Disney, we have to get a photo with our main man, Mickey.

I was super impressed with how well my camera captured fireworks.  I was snapping away during all of Wishes.

We caught an excellent view of Tinkerbell during the Electrical Parade from our perch on the second floor of the train station.

We had such a great time, even though it was a super short trip.  It makes me sad when we go and can't see all four parks.  I missed Expedition Everest and Soarin' this time.  But we did have enough time to get some super awesome pins and complete a few sets.  You should have seen me jumping up and down at the pin trading board at Downtown Disney when I saw they had a Pirate Goofy pin - the exact one I needed to complete my pirate set!  I went a little nuts for a second there... :)

Craft Room Gallery Wall Update

Hello and happy Wednesday to you!  Steven and I had a great time at Disney World, but it's not exactly the most relaxing vacation in the world, so I'm still recouping!  I'm thinking an early bedtime tonight...

So, I am finally getting around to showing you the few updates I made on my craft room gallery wall!  It was always my plan to make this wall-o-fun extend from one end of the room to the other but it took a while to collect that many frames and things to hang!  When we repainted our great room a few weeks ago, I took down my empty frame gallery wall because I was beyond tired of it, so all of those frames found new homes up here.  I still haven't filled them with anything, and they're still all black (I'm thinking lots of fun colors of these babies!), but you get the idea.  Here they are around my newest Expedit.

I replaced the melted crayon art with some records picked up at a resale shop for a quarter a piece.  The endless circles painting got moved to above the TV while a black segmented frame took its original spot (far right of the above photo).  The owl plate came from my plate wall, which also met its end when we took it down to paint.  I found the block A at Michaels and painted it like the Appalachian A.  

Previously, the gallery wall ended right here:

Yay, progress!

It's really hard to get the gist of what it looks like from photos, so I shot a little video of it.  I hope I'm not too awkward.

Keep in mind that my craft room is actually our bonus room over the garage, so I'm entering from the door at the top of the stairs.  I'm so incredibly lucky to have such a great space to store all my crafty things!

This end of the gallery wall didn't get extended that much, but some things got switched around since the last time I showed it to you:

And here's the best I could do to get this whole thing in one photo!

Any ideas what I could put in all those empty frames?  That's the hardest part...

Here are links to all of the projects you see:

The Original Installation

Melted Crayon Art

Fabric Wrapped Canvases

Endless Circles and Cross Stitch Paintings

Printables, Round Mirror, Ombre Frame

Herringbone Art

Woven Ribbon Canvas

State Love Canvas

I'm sure there are tons of links I missed above so just use the handy search tool over there --> and search "gallery wall."

I'll be back tomorrow with another Snapshots post for you.  This time it's the Disney edition!

Disney in Photos

While we're on our way back from Disney World today (talk about a whirlwind trip!), I thought I'd get all nostalgic and share photos of our past Disney trips with you.

2009: Our first Disney experience together.

2011: Showing Mickey some love on a big family trip.

July 2012: Another whirlwind weekend trip.  Boy was it hot that day at Hollywood Studios!

December 2012: Spending New Year's with friends.

Are you as Disney crazy as we are?  I'm already ready to go back...

Fingernail Friday: It's Disney Time!

Hola amigas!  Steven and I are headed to WALT DISNEY WORLD tonight after work for a long weekend, so I figured my nails needed a little Disney-fication.

I made the polka dots and Mickey ears with the end of a bobby pin, and the Mickey head with the end of a paintbrush.  Couldn't be easier.

Have a great weekend!

Ruched Camera Strap Slipcover Tutorial

Hi friends!  Just popping in to let you know that I'm over at Designed by Dawn Nicole sharing a tutorial for a Ruched Camera Strap Slipcover today!

If you remember, I teased it on Instagram last week...

Pop on over and see how to make your very own!  It's really much easier than it looks.

Moody Monday: A Colorful Outdoor Living Area

Good Monday morning to you!

Have you visited World Market lately?  We don't have one here (*tear*) but when we lived in Ohio, I used to love going in there and seeing all of the awesome stuff at super affordable prices.  Now I have to resign myself to online window shopping, which is what inspired this outdoor fire pit area I put together.

All of the items can be found at World Market, except for the umbrella which is from Crate & Barrel.

Apple Green All Weather Wicker Tub Chair

White Antigua Outdoor Throw Pillow

Antigua Bali Club Chair

Pagoda Blue Lola Wired Stool

Open Weave Fire Pit

Yellow and Blue Venice Rio Floor Mat

Natural Tapered Jordan Basket

10' Round Sunbrella

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.  World Market doesn't even know who I am!  But if they offer to send me those green tub chairs, I wouldn't turn them down ifyouknowwhatimean. :)