Dales Gender Reveal

With so much excitement around these "Gender Reveal Parties" recently, I was excited to be apart of one so soon.  My sister in law, Nichole is expecting her first baby and the excitement for the gender announcement was a lot of fun! The idea of getting all your family and friends together for the big news creates great memories, and who doesn't love another party?!

Since knowing that Nichole was pregnant, I immediately thought "Boy" and never felt any different.  Look below for the gender reveal guesses and who was right :)

I love so much about this picture!  The mustache and bow are adorable for each gender. Huge thank you to my husband, Rick for bringing these ideas together! This frame is something that can be kept forever to remember the guesses but also let Baby Dales know who is excitedly, and not so patiently, waiting the arrival :)

Everyone who thought Baby Dales was going to be a boy, wrote their name on the "Little Man" side.   It was a lot of fun  to see all the guesses. As you can see, Aunt Katie & Uncle Rick are on the Little Man side :)

Guesses for the Little Lady. There were two more guesses for a girl than boy.

The frame is not complete until the middle is filled with a picture of the LITTLE LADY! There will be a baby princess  to spoil rotten soon! 

As you can see, Uncle Rick and Aunt Katie were wrong with the guesses :) Rick and I are very excited to meet this little girl!!

-- Kathryn

Old & New, Kitchen Redo

When going through old pictures on my computer, I came across our kitchen rehab in our last house and thought I would share. Rick and I purchased this home in 2008 and planned to have the rehab complete by the time we got married in 2009. This was the trial to see if our relationship would last! LOL We survived and actually it was a bit of fun! This house was perfect for our first home, absolutely loved it!!  The living area, such as the kitchen (obviously), dining room and living room were small, but there were other perks to make up for it.  We had a nice fenced in back yard that Harley (our four legged baby) loved! An above ground pool that when working was a nice luxury, a comfortable entertainment room, nice back deck and patio. During the three years we were at this house, we were able to meet many of our neighbors and really enjoyed our chats. All in all, I enjoyed our time in this house. 

So back to the point. The kitchen was outdated and we were broke jokers! Being who I am, fixing it on a budget was the challenge! See pictures and details below.... 

This was the beginning! Not much of anything, eh? It seems I always start with an idea, and go a completely different direction. The plan was to have a bronzed look with black appliances. I knew the space was not anything that could really be changed, so the focus was just on appearance.

Started by removing all the doors and hardware.  Doors and sides were sanded and hardware picked out.  I decided to go black for the cabinets.  To be unique, we chose matte black.  Above the sink, you can see the options of the silver back splash or the bronzed gold.  We did decided silver since our appliances seemed to be going that route.  Like I said, my ideas usually take a turn.

Here you can see the cabinets have been painted and back splash has been put in place. I wish there were more pictures to show the progress of the black splash.  The pieces are purchased from Lowe's and can be glued or taped for support.  Suggestion, use the glue plus some! With the odd spaces, we did have to cut some of the backing to get the correct fit, very much like putting a puzzle together.

Starting to look more like a kitchen!

This is the kitchen mostly completed.  During the process, a bottom door "walked off" and we used the kitchen like this for some time.  It did magically re-appear at a later date....yes this is how life goes in the Brewer, Jr household!

The one "final" picture I could find.  At the end, I did have much better decorations above the cabinets, nice rugs on the floor with matching hand towels. Even though this kitchen is very small, with only ONE drawer, it was mine and I loved it!

-- Kathryn

Re-purposed Wood

For awhile, I have wanted to make a wooden headboard and was on my way to Lowe's to buy wood this weekend when the wood pile in my back yard caught my eye :) Being the type to not let anything go to waste, it was time to start my next project.

We have removed a wall between the dining room and kitchen and this was the discard pile. 

The pieces of wood were old and distressed, perfect!

After picking out the perfect pieces, had to check the layout.

An idea of what I was looking for. Btw, I love the brick walk-way!

Richard hard at work, removing the nails from each piece of wood.

Here is a better idea. Instead of lining up the pieces of wood perfectly, they are all off set. After laying this out, we got a thin pieces of plywood as the back support. We used a nail gun and went to town. That was probably the most fun of this project!

Final piece!  

I love that this headboard was made out of old wood from my house.  A fun story and saves on money :) Will be sure to post a picture when the bedroom is complete!

Crafts for Beautiful Little Miracles

Today is a kind of story I love to hear and share! Our friend's Jared and Jessica have a new little angel baby. Lyla was born just over a month ago and she is a beauty! Wishing you guys the best with your baby girl!

Below you will find step by step procedure on a beautiful frame for Baby Lyla!  This frame can obviously be used for any function, I did have pictures or hair bows in mind. 

First stop was the Goodwill to find a large picture frame for this girly creation! I was looking for a frame with a little more antique detail, but opted for this one for the size.

Supplies were frame, white and clear spray paint, sandpaper and two different colors of ribbon.

Start by removing the picture and having just a free, empty frame. The frame needs to be sanded and roughed up so it will hold the paint.

I knew the baby's room was in white, hot pink, and lime green colors.  So white was the color I choose for the frame. It did take two coats of white spray paint. Once painting was done, use the sandpaper to rough up the white paint.  This will create a distressed look to the frame.

Measure the distance between each ribbon piece and hot glue to frame. Make sure the glue is thick and covers as much of the end of the ribbon as possible. 

Frame with the ribbon. Still have more details to add.

Here it is folks! This little beauty has so many bows to display :)

Keep in mind, when looking at craft ideas you can change anything to fit your liking.  This frame would be cute in color, dark distressed, natural with twine or any other idea you can come up with!

-- Kathryn

WANTED :: Children After God's Own Heart

For the past few years, I have been helping with our annual Children's Revival at church.  This is one of the craziest, most rewarding, fun times of the year! I love meeting all of the individuals willing to help and hearing all the ideas for the projects. This past year, the theme was "WANTED :: Children After God's Own Heart". The decor was set up in a Western Town, which included a church, jail, bank, general store, school house, and more western locations. The kids had so much fun with this theme -  they wore jeans, cowboy/girl boots, scarves, and of course cowboy hats!  They were all adorable :) 

Details on behind the scenes.....First I want to say a huge THANK YOU!!!  to everyone who helped pull this western theme off for the kids!!  We had so many people willing to dedicate their time, ideas, supplies, and kids :) to complete this project!  A big thank you to my friend Melissa, she is a manager at Costco and I am always hitting her up for cardboard!  You would be surprised how easy cardboard is to use for the large decorative pieces.  

Below are a few pictures of the process on building a western town :) 

After collecting a van full of cardboard, we started drafting the western buildings.  We used an overhead projector to trace the outline before cutting each building out.

-----------------------

Next step was the pizza & painting party!!  We had a total of 10 people, for four hours, and painted seven different Western buildings. 

-----------------------

My friend Chelsea hard at work!  The bank was one of my favorite pieces due to the color combo. 

-----------------------

One of the final pieces. This is four different pieces of cardboard stapled and taped together. We used the overhead projector to trace the building out and paint from around the house to give the details. 

-----------------------

A few of the final pieces, in the background, for Children's Revival. 

-- Kathryn

Nerd Confessions

Here is one of my nerd confessions :) Growing up in a small town, one of my favorite summer memories was riding my bike to the local library.  I have always had a great love for reading and the chance to visit the old library, find new authors, and get lost in their stories was something I really looked forward to.  In addition to the books, the old building that housed all these "adventures" was a story in itself.  When entering the library, the old wooden doors would creak loudly, the sound of foot steps on the old marble would enter your ears, and the smell of old paper was apparent. One year, the decision to remodel parts of the library put some of the books on the upper level.  This level had dim lights and no air conditioning. Not something I would really look forward to, but a memory I have while searching for my next reading adventure.  

The reason for this trip down memory lane, is the soon re-opening of the St. Louis Central Library this winter! I am overjoyed to see the renovations made to this beautiful historic building that will hold so many writings!  In a day where everything is electronic, I am excited to see this beauty coming back around!

(Above) Livingston County Public Library

(Below) New pictures of the remodeled St. Louis Public Central Library

Pictures are not all that clear, you can view the originals at

http://www.stltoday.com/gallery/news/multimedia/see-the-library-renovations/collection_8380f59c-0788-11e2-a22f-0019bb30f31a.html#0

                                                     

I'm Back...to Shower some L-O-V-E!

After a wonderful evening with blogger friends last night, I finally feel the excitement to resume the "Treasure the Trash" blog again!  Last year, I posted a few craft ideas then was quickly distracted.  Well honestly, I also got caught up in Pinterest and somewhat felt my blog was pointless.  Thinking back over this last crazy year, there was quite a bit of fun, crafty times that I should have posted.  So....We are going to try this again!!

The event I am so excited to share today is the bridal shower for my new sister in law! My brother, Joel married the most amazing lady, Kristin this past May.  It was a beautiful wedding for three people I love so much!! Three?  Yep, I also got a nephew, Jack, out of the deal! That is kind of fun for me to say :) During the shower and wedding plans, I met some amazing, life-long friends of Kristin's. These girls were so creative and we had a blast putting together the bridal shower.  Below are some of the pictures and details of behind the scenes.

Table decorations for the bridal shower were beautiful rustic.  We used a mix of lace and burlap. Jars are either from storage or the goodwill, twigs from the backyard, and flowers from tissue paper.

This was one of my favorite pieces!  Love the mix of lace and twigs.  Simple as lace on cardboard and hot glue the twigs in place.

Kristin had the idea of collecting teacups at the bridal shower.  At first,

I couldn't picture what they would be used for. She received a wide variety and used them to serve desserts at the wedding!

Beautiful bride with her bridesmaids. (LtoR) Me, Dana, Kristin, Kandace

and Rachael. These girls were so much fun to work with during this exciting time!

Kathryn