Songs of the Week!

Here are the songs of the week! I heart them! And if you have any suggestions, feel free to send them my way! :)

1. Believe by The Letter Black which you can hear here or below
2. Come Undone by Jackson Waters which you can hear here or below
3. Divine Intervention by Lecrae ft. JR which you can hear here or below

Here are the videos!

Believe by The Letter Black:

Okay, for some reason the Blogger to YouTube widget thingy is not getting Come Undone by Jackson Waters, so you'll have to click the link above...sorry!

Divine Intervention by Lecrae ft. JR

Hope you enjoy! :)

Road Trip and New Stuff!

Sorry I didn't get to post yesterday! We were all over the place! Blake got up yesterday and wanted to go get some breakfast but when he went outside, he noticed his back tire was flat and his other three tires needed to be replaced really soon. I had also found a new (to us) washer and dryer set on Craigslist Wednesday and had asked the seller if we could come by Thursday after 5:00.

So we headed down to a place that could mount and balance Blake's new tires and get an alignment as well. Blake drove his car and I followed and we stopped at a place pretty near our house and he got into my car to head to get tires (because buying tires from the place where we wanted to mount and stuff just wasn't in the budget for two newlyweds who are already having to buy a washer and dryer and have had to buy a lawn mower recently). Once he got in my car he called another mount and balance place and got a quote that was $60 cheaper!! It was also quite a bit more down the road from our house (and now the car that needed fixing) so that just added in some extra driving, but hey! It's 60 bucks! So we drove about 45 minutes to get four pull off tires (at $50 a piece) and stuffed them in the back seat of my convertible (I now realize I should have taken a picture of this...darn). Then we drove back about 30 minutes to get Blake's car, then drove back 10 minutes to take the car and the tires to where they needed to go. Whew. Blake's car was in the shop....but that was only the first task of the day.

Next, we got some lunch (from the lovely Taco Bell) and called the Washer and Dryer person from Craigslist. And once we finished our delicious number 7's (chicken quesadilla and a soft taco...yum!) we were off to Gardendale (another 30 minute drive) and once we found the guy's house, we realized that we didn't pick up Blake's dad's truck on the way. So we looked at the washer and dryer, decided we wanted them, and headed to go get Blake's dad's truck and cash (because I forgot about the cash-only part..oops!). Once we drove about 10 minutes to his dad's church and 10 minutes back to the guy's house, Blake and his dad loaded up the washer and dryer and off we went! 45 minutes later we were back home! And we were ready to move out the old washer and dryer which looked like this:

These are at least 15 years old, but Blake doesn't remember when his parents got them (and we inherited these from his parents) and so he thinks they are closer to his age (26) but we aren't positive. Once they moved them, this is what was left behind:

Apparently our lint hose that connects to the dryer had come undone a few times and left us lots of presents. So I swept and vaccummed and then it was time for them to load the new stuff in! They got the washing machine in, but then we realized we had to get back to the car shop place to get Blake's car by 9:00 and it was 8:36! So we hopped in the car and 20 minutes later we were getting Blake's car and 20 more minutes later we were back home! Then Blake and his dad changed out the plug on the old dryer and put it on the new dryer (did you know you could do that? I had no idea!), and we stuck them in there! Here's what it looks like now:

And since I love some side-by-side comparisons, here's the before and after!

So that means that yesterday we drove 220 minutes (3.67 hours), got four new tires for Blake, and new appliances....whew. Glad that's over! And I've already done two loads of laundry and the new washer and dryer are doing great! :)

How was your Thursday? Have you ever had a day when you just feel like you have done nothing but drive?

Kitchen Art!

I have been trying to get some art up in my kitchen for like a million years now! I'm currently making something that will go on a wall (and one day when I complete it, you guys will get to see it), but I needed something to go here, above the stove (where a built-in microwave would be if they weren't so expensive!)

I've had quite a few plans for this area. At first, I was going to make a cute clock and put it there with some little details around it to fill up the space. Then, I went to Ikea and got two 8x10 Ribba frames, so the clock idea was out because it wouldn't fit and I wanted to use my new frames! lol

So then I was thinking printables! That took forever to figure out what I wanted (like a solid two weeks to decide and then I had to make it in photoshop!) Here's what I ended up with:

I didn't finish the other one, but it was going to say something about the perfect pair with a picture of a pear. The reason I didn't finish the other one was because I printed this hippo print out at my school (UAB)'s library (we are out of color ink...sigh) and when I got it home, it just didn't look good. My mat was more yellow than I realized and on white printer paper, the print next to the mat just didn't look good. And I printed out an 8x10 version, but the colors were off (I think it's my monitor...I need to figure out this whole changing my color thing!).

So, back to the drawing board I went! I found these free printables on Thirty Handmade Days which are super cute:

   

She had quite a few including Dr. Pepper, Frosting, Diet Coke, and a couple of others, but they didn't match my color scheme, and weren't actually true for me...I am a Mountain Dew addict. I looooooove Mountain Dew! So I made my own!

But I couldn't think of what to put in the other frame, so that too was saved for a rainy day (in a safe place of course, because I totally want to use that!) Then I came across this on Pinterest:

And I was like, I have buttons, I have frames, I can do this! And so I did! It was super easy, and only took about an hour and a half! (I was watching a Day9 Daily about Starcraft 2, which is a super cool game that Blake plays, and Day9 is a hilarious and brilliant commentator so it made time fly by!) Anywho! Here's how they turned out:

I have to admit that by the B, I was running out of buttons, which is why there are a lot of transparent buttons on that one, but it will be super easy to change them out with bright, opaque buttons once I pick some up (I'll just peel off the transparent ones (because I glued them on) and replace them with new ones!) I also didn't cut the black cardstock to fit, I just cut it small enough to fit on the mat and taped it to the mat (I'm terrible at cutting a straight line, so I thought this would be safer since I only got one sheet of 12x12 cardstock so not a lot of margin for error). But I heart them!

What do you guys think? Have y'all tried out the ol' button monogram? Or anything from Pinterest so far?

Getting Things Done Feels So Good!

I've got some updates for my favorite readers!! I got the Chevron Paintings up and the Spring Wreath hung! Yippee! Here's how they turned out:

The Chevron Paintings:

I have to say I'm pretty excited to have my dining room back to the way it is supposed to be. In order for me to paint, I covered my dining room table with a hot pink vinyl tablecloth so I could paint without fear of messing up whatever I was painting on or burning up out in the garage. So to see my pretty wood table again is pretty exciting!

Here's the Spring Wreath! (Which has come to be known as the "yarn frame" since Blake doesn't think it should be called a wreath since it isn't round)

I found this wreath hanger for $1.50 on Amazon! I got expedited shipping so I could get it sooner and share it with you guys, and it was still only $11! I was super excited :)

I think it helps out with the Look-At-Me-And-Buy-Me factor, don't you? I just heart it :) Now all that's left for the front patio is to get/make a new door mat, get a place mat to go under the candle holders, and maybe put a plant out there!

What do you guys think? I'm thinking that the chevron paintings are a bit small and am considering adding something around them....any ideas/suggestions? Or should I just leave them as they are? 

Songs of the Week!

Well, I actually posted this yesterday, but Blogger had some major problems yesterday and deleted my post :(  These are new bands never before featured on The Brighter Things! Hope you like them!

1. Here Waiting by Abandon (which you can hear here )
2. An Epiphany by The Send (which you can hear here )
3. Hold Your Breath by Kiros (which you can hear here )

I was going to put the videos up here like I did for last week's songs of the week, but now YouTube is having problems! Come on google! I'm your biggest fan! You're making me sad  here!! (Google owns both blogger.com and youtube) I hope you enjoy these songs of the week! :)

Chevron Fail And Then Some Success!

I am in love with the chevron print! It's all over the blogosphere and I just love it :) I have a feeling it will be on its way out soon, but for now it's here and it's awesome! And it just so happened that I needed some art on the walls of our dining room! Yaaaaay! Chevron!

So off to Wally World I went and picked up two 16"x20" canvases! And I started by trying to make the pattern myself with a ruler and a pencil...that was just a waste of time let me tell ya! Then I found this stencil online! I highly recommend using a stencil!! Anywho, the colors in our dining room are green and brown so I got a tan color and a green (technically they were called "Latte" and "Fresh Cut Grass"). Then I used the stencil, taped where I drew my lines with a pencil, painted, and painted a second coat. I was so excited to be done (because the whole taping thing was not really my idea of a good time...it was soooo tedious!) and when I took it into the dining room and showed Blake, here's what it looked like:

Aside from the paint that bled at random places under the tape, the green was a bit too "green grass" and not enough "mossy green." So defeated me went back to the drawing board. Luckily I only used one of my canvases that I got from WalMart. Although I did paint the background color that dark tan, which we also didn't like. Sad face.

So off to Hobby Lobby I went in search of the perfect mossy green, and wouldn't you know it! They had a green there called "Forest Moss" how perfect! I also picked up "Vintage White" that was almost white, but had just enough tan in it that it wouldn't look weird against the tan walls. And I did the same thing. Stencil with a pencil (that rhymed!!), tape, paint, and paint the second coat. Here's what it looked like:

Better green, but that dang paint still seeped under the tape again! And it made it look not so sleek and smooth like chevron is supposed to look. But I was determined to not tape this blasted thing again, so I got a small brush and just carefully painted around the edges. And here's how it turned out:

Still a little splotchy in places, but from far away you can't really tell :) And here's the green next to the curtains!

 I'm definitely loving this green and vintage white waaaay better! But I'll let you decide! (disregard my failed attempt at holding up a canvas while taking a picture of it...)

Fresh Green Grass

Forest Moss

I'll be actually hanging the new ones up once I finish the second canvas (I'm telling you guys, this tape is going to be the death of me!! lol)

Which do you guys like better? Has this ever happened to you? You get through slaving away at a project only to realize your fantastic project isn't so fantastic next to the rest of your fantastic decor!

Spring Wreath!

I have finally done it! After oogling over a million Spring wreaths for weeks, I have finally made my own! Yaaaaay! :)
I've been trying to bring in some more color onto our porch so that when potential home buyers drive by they notice our house! I added some patio furniture and some pillows to our front porch and the next thing on my list to do was to add a colorful wreath to the door! Blake and I decided we wanted a rectangular wreath since that looks modern and round wreaths look more girly (thought Blake) ;) So off to Hobby Lobby I went! I thought they had paper mache or chip board frames, but they didn't so I had to go to the frame section. Luckily they were 50% off so I got our frame for $8! More than I wanted to spend, but really good considering what we got! And I got an M to paint and put on our wreath. I had already gotten yarn and glue :) Here's how it turned out:

Notice that around the corners, it doesn't get all thick and stuff. That was a bit of a challenge, but once I figured out how I was going to do it, it was super easy! Here's what I mean by thick around the corners:

It's not that it's not cute, it's just not what I wanted with mine :)
So here's how I did mine!

I wrapped the yarn normally around all the sides of the frame, but I skipped the corners and moved over to the other side of the frame (like the three corners below)

Then I cut some strips of yarn (mine took about 30 per corner):

Ran some tacky glue along the edge of the seam where each side meets (it's diagonal) and then put the pieces of yarn on that string so that it looked like this:

Then I did the other side of the seam:

And I put glue along the outside edge of the frame to glue the pieces of yarn down:

Then you do that to the remaining three corners and voila! A yarn frame for your wreath that doesn't get all thick around the corners!

Once I finished that, I made some flowers out of scrap fabric I had left over from my pillows and some random fabric that I have no clue where I got it from. lol

For the M, I mixed two paint colors together so that I didn't have to go buy more paint. I mixed some white and a turquoise color to make a more springy, pastel blue :) Then painted the M an off-white and taped off a chevron print and painted it with the pastel blue I made. Oh and I glued the flowers and the M on with hot glue. So far nothing has fallen off and it's been three days so I think we're good, but if it falls off I'll be sure to let you guys know in case you want to try this! :)

You might be wondering why I haven't put a picture up of it actually on my front door, well the reason is that it's really hard to find a wreath holder in the Spring! I'm having to order one online because all my local stores aren't carrying them right now! Sad face! So when I get the wreath holder in, I'll be sure to let y'all see it! :)

So, have you guys put up a spring wreath? Or any other kind of spring/summer decorations around your house? Does your craft area look like mine, totally destroyed? Or are you a tidy crafter? :)