remodeling this life

Do you know how much I love Lisa Leonard? So much so that when I was at Blissdom, I spend two days looking for her. And every time I found her, she was talking to so many people, I wouldn’t have dared go up to her and interrupt. Then it was getting to the point that if I wasn’t brave, I was going to miss my chance. I am such a wallflower really. Finally, with Lindsay by my side, I went over to her. She was on the floor talking to a bunch of fabulous people and she stopped talking to them and hugged me, then Lindsay. Then she was as doting and loving on us as we were on her and I was in bloggy crush heaven.

She’s so sweet and wonderful, even moreso in person than I would’ve imagined.

Can you tell I heart her? As fabulous as her jewelry may be, she is a million times more.

Recently, she sent me this necklace. One of her new designs, it’s the vintage frames necklace. Swoon.

As pretty as it looks laying on my bedspread just waiting for one of my kids to come swoop it up and break it or lose it, it looks really pretty on, too.

In keeping with the frames theme…tell me…what other necklace would look so beautiful hanging from a frame?

All of her work is so amazing, and I feel so fortunate to call a few of her gorgeous pieces mine.

Today, the lovely Lisa is offering a $50 gift certificate to her shop. Just hop on over to Lisa Leonard Designs and browse around and come back and comment telling me what you’d like to buy if you win.

Thank you to Lisa for the gorgeous necklace and the generous giveaway!

Giveaway is open until Sunday. I’ll announce the winner then.

Last week, when I showed you the adjustment I made to the living room, I got some questions about where the armoire came from. It had been in my son’s room. A while back, we finally got around to doing a complete overhaul in his room, which can be found here little boy’s bedroom makeover.

When we moved the armoire out of there, it left a whole corner of his room empty. I didn’t want to go out shopping to fill the space, so we used what we had to make him a shelf where we can display favorite books, line up trains, and display photos and artwork.

His room is not this green, who knows what I did to mess up the lighting in that photo, but it’s not hard for me to mess up! Hubby painted the wood and installed the shelf. I bossed him around about what height it should be and he got cranky. Then when it was all over he admitted it was nice where I wanted it. I win!

In case anyone is curious about some of the things on the shelf, on the right hand side, there is the easy DIY wall art for kids that I made and posted at Living Locurto earlier this year. Over on the left is a leaning photo tile.

I used some of my favorite frugal stuff – jute twine and clothespins – to make another level for displaying photos and his artwork that he brings home from school. I like how non-commital a shelf and some twine and clothespins are. I can change out the artwork (we get so much new art from school every week, I sometimes feel like I am drowning in it) and photos and move them around all I want without harming any walls or frames in the process, like I did during the family photo wall project.

Remember the advent calendar I made in December? When I was packing up everything after the holidays, I decided to leave it up and use it as a message board. I had just decluttered it the day before I decided to take a pic and share it here. Some friends have come over and thought it was neat, so I figured it was worth sharing. It is often full of stuff like appointment cards and the occasional note, coupon, or whatever else seems appropriate at the time.

Apparently, I am a fan of the clothesline look!

How do you like to store and display favorite artwork and photos?

This was a long bad week for my family in terms of sickness. 2 ear infections and one sinus infection between my two kids, and a cold for me made for a cooped up, lazy week at home. I do like the extra naps and snuggle time I get but I would love a week of no doctor’s office copays and would like my kitchen to look more like a kitchen and less like a pharmacy.

While I’m snuggling congested kids, here are some links for your reading pleasure that I enjoyed from my reader this week:

Forgive My Rambling Heart
Don’t Wait For Something Special
Real People Don’t Live in Magazine Spreads
8 Effective Ways To Raise Frugal Kids