Teen Tuesday: Pinterest Is Your BFF

Way back in the fall the Lil’Nanny decided that she was going to move to her sister’s bedroom.  I had offered this room to her years earlier and she wasn’t interested, but then one day, she slept in there and realized that the smaller window didn’t let in as much light and she could sleep later…she’s a typical teenager.

The room needed to be painted so we got on the Pinterest to start looking for room inspiration and before we knew it, we had an entire board of teenage bedroom ideas.  You can view our teenage room ideas here.  The Lil’Nanny decided that a turquoise and black “glam” theme was her style, and I began pulling it all together.
Here’s the big reveal…


The focal point of every room is the bed so we found a reasonably priced black damask quilt at the Steinmarts.  Those large rectangle pillows on the bed are actually dog beds, but I didn’t know that when I bought them.  Not exactly as classy sounding as euro shams, but they do the trick. The mirror and decorative pillows are from Homegoods.  Homegoods is my happy place.  Sheets are from Walmart, gray blanket is from Target.

Another view of the bed. 

We got her this black vanity for Christmas.  My favorite part of buying this vanity was that it’s from Big Lots, and I needed to pick it up when I was out Christmas shopping with Alicia and Sumer.  I’m not sure that Alicia had ever been to Big Lots before so I’m always glad to expose her to a new high class shopping destination.  Sumer was like a kid in a candy store because they don’t have good Big Lots shopping in Addis Ababa. 

This was the dresser that we bought at Unfinished Furniture Mega Mart before she was born.  CraftiMama and I picked this dresser out, painted it white, and lined the drawers with baby shower wrapping paper (do people still do this?) five days before I delivered the Lil’Nanny.  It’s held up well, so I painted it glossy black and glammed it up with some crystal knobs we found at Homegoods.

A ruffle curtain from Target

We found this chalkboard wall sticker thing (Kohls) for the door.  I thought I was going to leave her fun notes of inspiration like clean your room, clean the bathroom, wash your sheets, etc., but she had other ideas. 

Our final project ended up being one of my favorite things in the room.  I bought this wood sign at the Pottery Barn Outlet years ago for the Medium Nanny’s room.  We weren’t using it anymore, but I always kept it because I knew that I could repurpose it.

 

My inspiration idea came from Pinterest via the Susan Harris Blog.  She makes and sells word signs on her blog.

If you don’t know this song, you should.  You can listen to it here.  Whenever I’m getting my craft on, I can’t help but think of my CraftiMama.  My first instinct at completion is to send her a text. This was our primary means of communication the last couple years so I could always count on her for an honest opinion, and a you need to add ________.  She would have definitely suggested more bling.  This sign and this song is a reminder that oh, how He does love us especially when our hearts are broken. 

I’m thankful for craft paint, a teenage girl, and fun glamour rooms…it’s cheaper than therapy!  Happy Tuesday!

Messy Monday: Clean Shower Edition

If you’ve been on Pinterest for any length of time then you’ve seen all those recipes for homemade cleaning recipes.  I’ve seen them over and over again and finally thought that I would give one a try. 

The most popular recipe I’ve found is made by mixing equal parts white vinegar (heat vinegar in microwave for 1 minute) and Dawn dish soap into a spray bottle.  Shake a little and you get a nice aqua blue bathroom cleaner. Warning:  It stinks like you think vinegar and soap would.  Some recipes say that you have to mix up a new batch every time and that it’s the heating of the vinegar that makes this all work.

The above “before” picture is the tub my children use.  Yes, I’m showing you how we they live, and I’m not ashamed.  I used to always clean the tubs on a tight every 2 weeks schedule.  Then one day, I just stopped doing that and the world didn’t come to an end.  So now I make the kids clean it whenever I think the health department might just shut us down.  What bothers me more are the amount of almost empty shampoo bottles sitting on every surface of this tub…the world just might come to an end over that but the occupants of this shower don’t seem to mind!

The “after” picture.  It looks a little streaky but it was really clean.  This cleaner is made to combat (I love it when household products use “war words” like combat and destroy in their commercials) soap scum and it did do that and it got most of the gray yuck that gets stuck in the bottom of the non-slip pebbly type surface that all fiberglass tubs seem to have.  I would use it again so give it a try! 

HIJACKED!!!

Big Nanny has been HIJACKED!!! Her "girls" wanted to take over while she was out of the country.  Enjoy the next few days as we give you some insight into our world with Big Nanny. 

We don’t need you! You need us!

 I need teachers! I pretty much always need teachers. We have a lot of preschoolers and it takes a lot of volunteers to provide good, quality care for them each week. Plus, its promotion time and teachers are moving to other departments and the “holes” are piling up.

Yes, it is true that I need to fill these holes. A huge part of my job is to staff Sunday School. But God gave me a different perspective for this year’s recruitment.

Future teachers need us.

Not me or the preschool staff, or even the precious children.

I realized that each “hole” represents an invaluable opportunity, a true gift. See, I remembered how much I grew in my faith when I started teaching two year olds. We went from church members who attended regularly to leaders who couldn’t miss. People were counting on me. I had made a commitment and I didn’t want to let those two year olds down.

However, what started as a commitment grew. It grew and grew! God took my act of obedience and He changed my heart. I started doing more Bible Studies and the people who were serving around me influenced my walk tremendously. You see, it wasn’t me that the church or even the kids needed. I needed this. I needed the opportunity to serve God on a weekly basis.

Then one day, they offered me a job. Now I can’t tell you that your service will end up in employment, but I can tell you that it will change your life!

The biggest perk – you get to work with Big Nanny!!! She is not only a really cool girl, she is one of the wisest people I have ever known! Come work with her and she will bless you!

 

Tuesday Tutorial: T-Scarf

I didn’t have enough scarves so I thought I would start tearing up shirts so that I could add some pizazz to my wardrobe. 

So the first thing you need is a t-shirt. This is a ladies size large.

And you’ll need to cut straight across right under the armpit.

(Random thought: Why do little boys make noises with their hands and armpits.  I’m quite certain that’s the reason that God didn’t give me a son.  He knew I couldn’t handle the armpit noises.)

Now you have a rectangle that should look like this.

Now you will need to start cutting one inch strips.

Now it should look like this. At any point during this tutorial, you can stop what you’re doing and turn this into a dust rag.

Don’t forget to cut off the tag.

Now you’re going to hold the top of the fabric and pull on the bottom of each strip.  You’ll need to make it “spring” a little so that the strips don’t look so straight.

And then you just wrap it around until you have something that slightly resembles a scarf.  There’s a good possibility that someone is going to ask you if you have a cut up t-shirt around your neck. And then you just say…

I saw it on the Pin-Interest.

Messy Monday: Labels

Labels. I love them. You'll see evidence of them whenever I'm around. Some people like to make fun of this fact. I’m not sure why.  If everyone labeled everything; I would know where everything is and where everything goes. It’s a public service that I like to offer people so they will put items back in their correct spot. 

I label my kitchen.

 

I label my bathroom

 

I label my children.

Okay, well maybe that’s taking it a little too far.  But my Dad always calls me Misty and that’s not my name.  It’s my sister’s name.  So obviously we should label our children to make it easier on parents.

 

Label makers make the world a better place. You should have one.

 

And fancy labels make the world a prettier place.

You can get these free label templates here.

Happy Monday!