One of my favorite things about late summer (besides lightning bugs and cooler nights), is the blooming sunflower. A few months ago, I professed my undying love for my hydrangeas and showed you how to make a quick and beautiful arrangement.

But now, my beloved hydrangeas are past their prime. Which is just as well because my sunflowers are in full bloom and ready for lots of cutting!

Photo: Penn State Ag Department

I think lots of people mistakenly assume that all sunflowers are ginormous and require tons of space to grow. Giant sunflowers (like the Mammoth variety) are fun to grow, but they definitely belong outside (or in the back of a magenta pick-up truck). Unless, of course, you have vases made of lead and huge rooms that can handle their comically large proportions.

There are lots of smaller sunflower varieties that are fantastic for cutting and making quick bouquets. You don’t need acres of land to grow them and you can get lots of flowers from one plant. Some varieties to look for are:

Autumn Beauty
Italian White
Lemon Queen
Red Sun
Teddy Bear (that the one in my pictures)

But don’t limit yourself to this list. Look at the seeds available in your store and find multi-branched varieties with smaller blooms. The multi-branched varieties will get you more flowers on each plant.

We usually plant our seeds a few weeks before Mother’s Day so we can use them as gifts and so they get a head start on the growing season.

That bouquet in the mason jar is going to a neighbor to say “Thanks for letting us crash in on your new swimming pool!”

What’s blooming in your garden now?

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Hello, my friends! I’ve missed you all so much!!!! It was wonderful taking a 2 week blogging break, but I definitely missed this world.

My hubby calls you all the “friends who live in my computer”, but I’ve discovered that you’re also “friends who live in my head and my heart”. That sounds weird doesn’t it? Moving on.

It was a busy 2 weeks. Here’s a quick run-down of what I’ve been doing…in pictures.

This little goof-ball celebrated his 4th birthday (insert tears from me).

Sesame Place

We took a little road trip to eastern PA to visit with all of these guys. I can definitely say that Sesame Place is worth a visit if you’re in the area. The boys had a fantastic time!

Then I put this toothless fella… (is there anything cuter than missing front teeth? I think not.)

On one of these…

For this…

(insert more tears from me.) Are you noticing a pattern yet?

I also learned how to make the most amazing (and EASY!) bread ever. Post coming soon. This also got a few tears…of PURE JOY!

And let’s not forget the mountain of these that were read. Our library cards were smoking! Lots of fun read-alouds with the kids and some just for myself. HEAVEN!

We also knocked a few more things off our Summer List. It’s not quite done, so we’re now calling it our Summer into Fall List.

What was your favorite thing from this summer?

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Do you ever feel like you’ve lost control of your time? That you’ve let too many things creep onto your schedule and that the really important things are getting pushed aside?

You say yes and yes to more and more. Not bad things. Good things! But even good things can be a problem when they crowd out the best things.

When that happens to me, I know that it’s time to rest, breathe, reflect and pray. After over 2 years of posting 4-6 times a week, I am taking a blog-breather for the last 2 weeks of August.

Everyone who knows anything about blogging will tell me that I’m CRAZY! Kimba! You can’t just not post! You have to schedule posts ahead of time! You have to line up guest posters! You have to re-run posts from your archives! Otherwise, you’ll lose readers and the world will explode!

And they’re right (about everything but the exploding part). From a business perspective, it’s a terrible decision to just disappear for 2 weeks. But I’ve always operated under the philosophy of “It’s my blog and I’ll wreck if it I want to.”

Sometimes it’s better to do less so you can be more. And that’s what I’ll be doing for the next 2 weeks. Doing less. And being more.

If nothing else, I hope I can encourage you that sometimes it’s ok to take a step back. It’s ok to stop and catch your breath.

I do know myself and I’m sure I won’t be able to resist jumping on and sharing a few fun tidbits over the next couple of weeks. But I’m looking forward to recharging so that I can come back on Sept 1st and be re-energized and refreshed.

photo credit: gfpeck

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

James 1:12

photo credit: Brian Hathcock

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Hey gals! I’ve been neglectful in announcing winners from a couple of giveaways so we’ll remedy that today.

The winner of the $40 gift certificate to Knitty Bitties is: Sara L (no blog but the allissasslave email address). I’ve emailed you!

Make sure you check out Knitty Bitties for super adorable ruffled pouches, wallets, notebook covers and bags. She’s also added a bunch of new iPad covers for all you techies. Such cuteness!

The winner of the $50 gift certificate to The Vintage Pearl is: Emily from The Wise Family! Congratulations! Shoot me an email and we’ll get you set up. Kimba (at) asoftplace (dot) net.

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Woohoo! I’m so excited to be doing another special edition of DIY Day! This is DIY Day ~ The Beach Edition!

Go grab your best beachy posts and link ‘em up here! I’ll leave the definition of beachy up to you. If you don’t have something new, go get something from your archives! It’s getting dangerously close to the end of summer so let’s live it up…Beach style.

Go grab your beachy project post and link it up here for all to see. You know the guidelines:

1. Put a of your outdoor DIY project in the “Name” field. This helps people browse the HUGE number of projects. And you get MORE clicks!
2. Link to your specific post, not the main page of your blog. I HATE having to delete these. It makes me feel like a big meanie.
3. Link to this party from your post so everyone can get in on the fun.

You can use this button in your post to link back here. Just grab the code and paste it into your post.

<center><a href=”http://asoftplace.net/” mce_href=”http://asoftplace.net/”><img border=”0″ alt=”DIY Day @ ASPTL” src=”http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/ee349/GDest07/Kimba/kimbaDIY125.png” mce_src=”http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/ee349/GDest07/Kimba/kimbaDIY125.png” title=”DIY Day @ ASPTL”/></a></center>

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

We’re back! Our week of vacation in Rehoboth Beach was fantastic. Lots of fun, family and food. And a little bit of sunburn, but we don’t need to discuss that.

I started going through my pictures and I am not in one. single. picture. Not one! Is that how it is with you? According to the photographic evidence, I ceased to exist shortly after our first son was born. I guess that’s the lot of the main picture taker.

Of course, I had to do a little junkin’ while on vacation. The eastern shore is full of fantastic antique and flea-tique stores. Beach Plum Antiques in Bethany Beach was new to me but it’s sure to be a regular stop now that I’ve discovered it. I’m so lucky to have a cousin-in-law who loves thrifting too. She’s always up for a side trip. Thanks Kathy!

So much awesome stuff on the porch outside! A little tip for you: When shopping at an antique store, pay special attention to the stuff outside. That’s usually where you’ll find the best bargains. They put the good (translation: expensive) stuff inside, but the outside is usually reserved for the cheap stuff.

Check out this old row-boat filled with painted buoys. I wanted to fill my van up with them!

Giant fake marlin anyone?

If you can believe it, I didn’t buy anything. Mostly because our van was packed solid with beach toys, beach chairs and luggage. Not an inch to spare. It nearly killed me to walk away from such good junk.

Since I am still in beach mode, I thought we’d have a DIY Day ~ The Beach Edition tomorrow. That would be Tuesday, August 10th.

Fun, right? Come by and link up with your fun beachy posts. I’ll leave the definition of “beachy” up to you. Maybe it’s a project you made with sand and shells? Maybe you’ve got some fabulous beach decor at home? Come share your best beachy-ness. And it doesn’t need to be a new post. Dig through your archives and find your best stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~

Did you see that I announced the winner of our Silhouette giveaway? Congratulations and thanks to everyone who entered!

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Congratulations to #2,230! Andrea from andrea & boys who won the Silhouette! I’m so thrilled for you!!!

She said, “I so want one of these! So many amazing things I could make with one;)”

Don’t forget! If you want to buy one of these hot little machine, you can purchase your own at Silhouette with one of these great deals! Just use the code “SOFT” as your discount code.

1) AWESOME PROMO (running from August 1st through August 9th at midnight)

Buy a machine and receive the following:

• $50 off the Silhouette Craft Cutter
• 2 rolls of vinyl (Valued at $15.98)
• 1 roll of transfer tape (Valued at $7.99)
• Scraper (Valued at $6.99)
• Home Décor CD (Valued at $50)
• $10 Gift Card to the Silhouette Download Store
• Cutting Blade
• 2 Cutting Mats

All for $249.99

A Savings of $130.96. Just think of how much you’ll save on gift giving this year!

2) GOOD PROMO (running from August 9th through August 14th at midnight)

Buy a machine and receive the following:

• $50 off (receive for $249.99)
• 2 rolls of Heat transfer ($29.89 value)
• $10 Gift Card to the Silhouette Download Store
• Cutting Blade
• 2 Cutting Mats

All for $249.99

A savings of $79.98

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:8

photo credit: caese

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I have been having a ball playing around with my new Silhouette! Seriously. This little machine is incredible and I’m amazed by all the things that you can do with it. Like any new tool, it takes some time to figure out everything that it can do and I always prefer to just jump in and start doing.

I showed you the very first project that I made earlier in the week. This birthday artwork took about 15 minutes from start to finish. Love it! Don’t forget to click over to my giveaway post so that you can enter to win a Silhouette of your own!

Last week, I showed you a multitude of undone projects and my new Silhouette was the motivation that I needed to finally do something with the old transom window that’s been hanging out in my garage.

I’ve been wanting to hang the window in my laundry room and when I found this adorable laundry line artwork in the Silhouette Online Store, I was smitten! You can download artwork from their site for only 99 cents (less with a subscription!).

Once you get your artwork sized for your project, the Silhouette machine does the rest. You feed through a piece of vinyl and the machine does all the cutting.

Then you just peel away the excess parts. And you have your vinyl decal.

You can use transfer paper to make it super easy to put your decal exactly where you want it.

Once the decal is positioned correctly, you use a straight edge of some kind to adhere it to your surface.

Then peel back the transfer paper. Any little bubbles can be easily removed by just smooshing them out with a straight edge.

And that’s it! I still have to hang this in my laundry room, but I couldn’t wait to show you how it came out!

Don’t forget to check out my giveaway post so that you can enter to win a Silhouette of your own!

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

This giveaway is closed. Winner announced here.

SQUEEEEEE!! I am so excited to tell you about this giveaway today! I’ve had to keep this fabulous secret to myself for a few weeks and I thought I was going to burst!

The amazing gals at How Does She and the folks from Silhouette asked if I would like to try out their new digital craft cutting machine…If I didn’t like it, I could send it back, no questions asked. I’ve been longing for a cutting machine for ages, so this was a no-brainer for me.

I have fallen head over heels in love with this fabulous little machine and one of you will get to welcome it into your home too!

The Silhouette is a digital craft cutter that connects to your computer just like a printer. But instead of printing designs, it cuts them with a little blade! The Silhouette is totally different (and fabulous!) because there are no expensive cartridges to purchase. You can use the fonts already on your computer or purchase designs from the Silhouette Online Store for only 99 cents!

I was blown away by all the things you can do with the Silhouette. Obviously, it’s an incredible machine for all you scrapbookers out there. I’m not a scrapbooker myself, but I’m going to have a really hard time justifying $4.00+ for greeting cards when I can make my own with the Silhouette.

Of course, I couldn’t wait to try it out for myself. After a pretty easy set-up, I whipped up this little piece of birthday artwork for my son’s bedroom. Side note: How is it possible that my BABY is turning 4?

There are so many things to try and I’m dying to get to know my new machine even better. Glass etching? Yes, please!!!! Vinyl wall decals??? Oh yeah!!! Heat transfers for fabric and clothing???? AWWWW YEAH!

There’s even a Silhouette Blog where you can find tons of inspiration and free weekly downloads!

Are you dying to find out what you can win? Here’s the deal…One lucky winner will receive a prize worth $299.99! The prize packages includes:

• Silhouette machine
• Software for Windows XP/Vista
• Power cable, USB cable
• 2 Cutting mats (one for thick media, one for thin media)
• One cutting blade
• $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store

Here’s how you can win:

1. Leave a comment here telling us how unbelievably excited you would be to win.
2. Visit the Silhouette site and check out all the incredible things you can do. Then come back and tell me what your first project would be.
3. Take a look at the downloadable designs. Then come back and leave another comment telling me what design you love.
4. Blog about this giveaway with a link back to this post. Then leave another comment with a link to your post.
5. Mention this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook with a link to this post and come back and leave another comment.

That means that each of you can get up to 5 chances to win this awesome prize!

This giveaway will end on Monday, August 9th at noon (eastern time). Giveaway open to US residents only. Silhouette is not Mac compatible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you just can’t wait to get your hot little hands on this hot little machine, you can purchase your own Silhouette with one of these great deals! Just use the code “SOFT” as your discount code.

1) AWESOME PROMO (running from August 1st through August 9th at midnight)

Buy a machine and receive the following:

• $50 off the Silhouette Craft Cutter
• 2 rolls of vinyl (Valued at $15.98)
• 1 roll of transfer tape (Valued at $7.99)
• Scraper (Valued at $6.99)
• Home Décor CD (Valued at $50)
• $10 Gift Card to the Silhouette Download Store
• Cutting Blade
• 2 Cutting Mats

All for $249.99

A Savings of $130.96. Just think of how much you’ll save on gift giving this year!

2) GOOD PROMO (running from August 9th through August 14th at midnight)

Buy a machine and receive the following:

• $50 off (receive for $249.99)
• 2 rolls of Heat transfer ($29.89 value)
• $10 Gift Card to the Silhouette Download Store
• Cutting Blade
• 2 Cutting Mats

All for $249.99

A savings of $79.98

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I have a confession to make. There was a time in my life when entertaining friends and family stressed me out. A lot. And it was my own fault.

I made entertaining too complicated.

Join me at Reluctant Entertainer today to read about my simple summer entertaining philosophy.

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I’m blogging from the beach this week! Woo and a Hoooooo!!! I know. I know. I’m a lucky dog. (Note to crazed killers waiting to rob my house…We have a security system and nosey neighbors)

Every summer, we spend a week in Rehoboth Beach, DE with my in-laws (who totally rock). There are at least 10 adults and a gaggle of kids. It’s heaven on the beach.

If you ever get the chance to visit this awesome east coast beach, I would highly recommend it. It’s the perfect combination of family friendly and simply fabulous.

There’s an awesome boardwalk with stuff for the kiddos combined with fantastic shopping and eating. I’m always shocked if I don’t gain 20 lbs the week that we’re here.

There will be much sand digging, wave jumping, ice cream eating and kite flying. And I’ll definitely squeeze in a little thrifting.

But, fear not! I’ll still be around (with sand between my toes) and I have some great stuff lined up for you this week. I am SUPER excited about an awesome giveaway that we’ll be doing later this week. Stay tuned!

What’s you’re favorite vacation ever?

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners.

Isaiah 61:1

photo: Vince Alongi

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

This giveaway is closed. Winner announced here.

Hey friends! It’s time for a Friday giveaway! What better way to start the weekend, right?

Have you had a chance to check out my newest sponsor, Knitty Bitties? Don’t let the name fool you. This isn’t your grandma’s knitting shop. Knitty Bitties if full of the most adorable hand sewn pouches, wallets, bags and camera strap covers. My girl knows how to work fabulous fabrics and a ruffle.

There is so much cuteness to love!

Ruffled pouches for holding cosmetics, cell phones, electronics or money! I adore this blue and red combo. So sassy!

Ruffled list takers that hold a small pad and pencil. I’m a chronic list maker and I’d love something this adorable to hold my tablet!

And for you more tech-savvy gals, she makes super fun Kindle covers! First I want a Kindle…and then a Knitty Bitties Kindle cover!

And there are lots of other goodies like camera strap covers, mini snap wallets and baby gift sets. I’m totally smitten!

Want to win a $40 gift certificate to Knitty Bitties? There are 3 ways to enter.

1. Leave a comment here saying something brilliant like “I LOVE KNITTY BITTIES!!!”

2. Visit Knitty Bitties on Etsy and take a look around. Then come back here and leave a comment telling us something you LOVE from the shop.

3. You can tweet, facebook, blog or whatever about this giveaway. Then come back and comment again.

One winner chosen by Random.org. Giveaway open until Monday, August 2nd at 10pm EST.

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I rarely lack for inspiration. It’s a mixed blessing.

My mind constantly swirls with the possibility of things. It’s one of the reasons that I’m always dragging home thrift store treasures. I can see the potential in a piece of junk. My poor man suffers this with dignity. All I can say is “Hallelujah for basements”.

My problem always lies in the motivation. Usually, the brain is willing but the body says, “Nah. Let’s eat Crunch N Munch and watch Big Brother.” And so the list of undone projects grows. Things like:

This old window that I plan to use a frame above my laundry room door.

This old wooden door that I snagged out of someone’s trash and plan to turn into a desk for my workspace. Soon. Someday soon.

Side story on the door: I was driving in the minivan with the kids in back. It was POURING down rain and I was wearing a skirt and heels. I saw that door sitting out for the trash and KNEW I had to have it. Slammed on the brakes, did a 180 and pulled off the road. Jumped out into the mud, flung open the back of the van…all the while the kids are screaming “WHAT ARE YOU DOING???” I grabbed that door and let me tell you it was HEAVY! Slid that sucker into the back of the van and screeched out of there in 30 seconds flat.

Trash pickin’ is exciting business, I tell ya.

This old bench that I snagged for $5 (!!!!!) at a yardsale LAST SUMMER. I plan to recover it and use it in my entryway.

And this round coffee table from Goodwill that I want to paint and use as a game table in the playroom.

So there you have it. Motivation vs. Inspiration. Which do you have more of?

Tell me about your unfinished project.

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

It’s no secret that I’m a lover of all things spray paint. It’s amazing what a can of that stuff can do. It’s hands-down the fastest, easiest way to update a cheap find and make it perfect for my home. I use it to freshen up furniture, picture frames and glass bottles.

It’s so freeing when you begin to look beyond the current condition, color, or design of something and envision how it might look with a few simple changes.

I’ve had this piece of orange ceramic coral in my dining room for a few months now. I found it in the clearance aisle of Marshalls and brought it home even though I knew the rusty orange color wouldn’t work in my house.

But it sat there until this weekend when the motivation struck me to change it up.

I used the leftover paints from my bedroom lamp project.

When I’m painting something ceramic like this coral, I like to use a glossy or lacquer finish since most ceramics are pretty shiny. But in a pinch, I’ll use whatever I have on hand.

The trick to spray painting ceramic is to use VERY light coats. The ceramic can’t absorb any of the liquid, unlike wood, so it’s easy to get drips and runs. So just take your time and do lots of very light coats until it’s done. I probably went over it 3x with the primer and 4-5 times with the paint. Each coat took about 5 seconds.

Note: I realize that by painting the fake orange coral with white paint, I may have created some not-found-in-nature creature. But it looks good on my mantle, so we’ll just go with it.

What have you spray painted lately?

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Isaiah 54:10

photo: OneEighteen

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I had such a ball with DIY Day ~ The Outdoor Edition this week! I loved seeing all of your outdoor projects. Maybe we’ll do it again soon with a different theme.

Here are just a few of my favorite things this week.

Chalkboard patio table @ Mother Load (Fun for the grown-ups AND the kids!)

Light fixture terrariums @ Zoom In (She made tons of these for her daughter’s wedding reception. Genius!)

This kitchen makeover from Family BLT is nothing short of spectacular! You have to click over to see the “befores”.

I desperately want to turn an old shed into a man cave for all my boys after seeing this awesome man cave space @ 3 Sunkissed Boys.

~~~~~~~~~~

I have been terribly remiss and not announcing a winner from fabulous Vintage Pearl giveaway. Forgive me! The winner of the $50 gift certificate from The Vintage Pearl is…Cheryl (no blog, but the “honda” address). Congratulations, Cheryl! I’ll be emailing you!

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Even though the pace of summer is slow, it still feels like time is flying by. Some days, the time with my kiddos feels like sand slipping through my fingers. I want to hold onto it as long as I can.

So we’re filling the long, hot days with our favorite things. Mostly Epic Sandbox Wars: Star Wars Vs. Dinosaurs. And we’re working our way though our Summer List.

Did you see that Jenny from DIY Newlyweds turned her summer list into a fun piece of artwork? She’s a genius.

What’s your favorite thing to do this summer? Is there something that’s distracting you from focusing on the people that you love?

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I’m so excited to be doing a special edition of DIY Day! I’ve surely missed DIY Day these last couple of months.

We’re doing it old-school this time. No glorious prizes. Just good old-fashioned sharing and showing off! You’re here to see projects! Outdoor projects! So let’s see them!

Go grab your outdoor project post and link it up here for all to see. You know the guidelines:

1. Put a of your outdoor DIY project in the “Name” field. This helps people browse the HUGE number of projects. And you get MORE clicks!
2. Link to your specific post, not the main page of your blog. I HATE having to delete these. It makes me feel like a big meanie.
3. Link to this party from your post so everyone can get in on the fun.

You can use this button in your post to link back here. Just grab the code and paste it into your post.

<center><a href="http://asoftplace.net/"><img border="0" alt="DIY Day @ ASPTL" src="http://i534.photobucket.com/albums/ee349/GDest07/Kimba/kimbaDIY125.png" title="DIY Day @ ASPTL"/></a></center>

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I haven’t written about the on-going master bedroom redo lately. Mostly because summer is here and the living is easy at Casa Kimba. OK. Not exactly easy. Just really, really busy, which leaves precious little time for spray painting. The HORRORS!

I have a couple of other projects in the works, but before anything else, I needed to find a place to toss the dirty laundry sit. Even if it occasionally catches yesterday’s jeans, every bedroom place (besides the bed) to park your rear.

I had this empty corner between the dresser and the window. The perfect spot for a chair.

And, (lucky me!), I had this junk store wicker chair just sitting in the basement waiting for a makeover.

A little spray paint and some new cushions and (poof-voila!) the perfect chair for my Zen Traditional bedroom.

I splurged a little on the cushion and pillows, but they were still on great sale. The seat cushion came from Pier 1 and the throw pillows came from Kohls. The chocolate color coordinates perfectly with my bedding and the throw pillows bring in some of the green color that I wanted.

Want to catch up with the rest of the Master Bedroom Makeover? Start here:

The Evolution of a Bedroom ~ Why Your Bedroom Matters
The Master Bedroom Before
The Bedding Reveal
The Window Treatments
A Lamp Makeover

Don’t forget! DIY Day ~ The Outdoor Edition will be happening here starting tomorrow! Link up with your latest outdoor projects!

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34

photo: Arturo Donate

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

How to Simplify When You Love Your Stuff ~ Great read for us decorating-types with too much stuff.

Emily writes about ducks, having ducks in rows and not having ducks in rows. ~ An encouraging read for those of us with ducks that just run wild.

Stacey took a blogging break and realized that it’s a good thing. Here here!!!

I’ve been on the hunt for a couple of good beach reads, so I loved Amy’s great reads for mom’s article.

Love these great ideas from Money Saving Mom for keeping frugality fun.

Don’t forget! DIY Day ~ The Outdoor Edition will be happening on Tuesday (7/20). Make sure you come by to link up your outside-type projects.

photo: Allison Taylor

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork

I loved reading all of your thoughts and comments on neighbors, neighborhoods and all things neighborly the other day.

The conversation started because I was baking something yummy to take to a new family that moved in down the street. I find there’s no better way to say “Welcome to the neighborhood!” than delivering a box of gooey-sugary goodness.

And since this recipe is full of bananas, chocolate and pure awesomeness, I thought I should share it with you too. A good friend gave me the recipe, so I don’t know it’s original source. But it’s a new take on the old-standby, Banana Bread. But it’s full of chocolate chips and it’s more of a bar cookie. Pure delishiousity.

I usually make a 1-1/2x recipe and bake in in my large jelly-roll pan. That gives me enough to share and to stuff my face satisfy my family.

I delivered one box to the family that just moved into the neighborhood and one to another family that I’ve been wanting to know a little better. Who doesn’t love some fresh-baked sweetness? I predict they’ll be my new BFFs.

Banana Monkey Bars

3/4 cup butter or margarine (1-1/2 sticks)
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 medium)
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 6-oz package (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

• Turn oven to 350 degrees and grease a 15x10x1″ baking pan with shortening.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat butter or margarine with electric mixer on medium speed until softened. Add sugar and brown sugar and beat till fluffy.
• Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
• Stir in mashed bananas.
• In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add this to the banana mixture, beating until well mixed.
• Stir in chocolate chips. Eat a few chips.
• Spread batter in the greased baking pan.
• Bake in the 350 degree about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack. Cut into bars.

The end.

Thanks to my sponsors!

• Burlap+Blue ~ vintage inspired goods for your home
• Leen the Graphics Queen ~ decorative vinyl wall decals
• Pink Pig ~ cottage furnishings, antiques and vintage finds
• Purple Lemon Designs ~ custom stamps and stationery
• The Vintage Pearl ~ boutique quality hand-stamped jewelry
• Ruby Plaza ~ making you and your home beautiful
• My Design Guide ~ room designs in one week
• Wish You Wells ~ storybook look artwork