Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas! 

We wish you the very best that 2017 has to offer! 

May it be filled with many many blessings!

Be well,
Megan

Handmade Gifts

Hi Friends,
How are you? Can you believe that Christmas is less than a week away? Are you ready? What are you looking forward to most? We are most looking forward to family visiting. 

Thank you for all of your sweet comments on our kitchen reveal. 
If you missed it, here it is:
http://thechalkboardcottage.blogspot.com/2016/12/kitchen-budget-make-over-reveal.html

A while back I shared some past handmade gifts and/or decorations for the holidays. 
Here's that link:
http://thechalkboardcottage.blogspot.com/2016/10/handmade-christmas-crafts.html

Now, you need to keep a secret for me. Shhh! Don't tell anyone that I give gifts to. Today I wanted to share with you this year's handmade gift, oyster shell Christmas trees:

How about you? Do you like to give handmade gifts? If so, what are some gift ideas you've given? Do you like to receive handmade gifts? 

Merry Christmas y'all! Thanks for joining me today.
Megan

Kitchen Budget Make-Over Reveal

Woo hoo!!!!!! The sun is shining! Our kitchen make-over that we did ourselves for less than $500 is complete!

Hi friends,
Can you tell that we are slightly excited to be finished with our kitchen make-over? You might remember that we did it ourselves and on a budget. 

Disclaimer: I was so excited to share these pictures that I couldn't even wait for the electrical outlet covers to be put back on so just ignore that. :)


Here's our old kitchen (brown, brown, and in case that's not enough brown, here's a little more brown):

Here's what we did:

1. Painted upper kitchen cabinets in Annie Sloan's Pure White chalk paint (done by me)
2. Painted lower kitchen cabinets in Annie Sloan's French Linen chalk paint (done by me)
3. New subway white tiles tiled directly over existing tiles and gray grout added (done by Mr. Chalkboard Cottage)

Here's the budget breakdown:

1. About $250 for paint supplies
2. About $250 for tiling supplies (including Mr. Chalkboard Cottage did need to buy a tile saw and we used gift cards for Home Depot for most of this bill)

Feel free to watch our video tutorials on how we carried out this task of making over our kitchen ourselves on a budget under our Tutorials tab.

Also, if you're having any questions, feel free to comment below and we promise to answer  your questions. Good luck!

One last time....

Before-

After-

We are about to host lots of family for the Christmas holiday and plan on sitting in our kitchen enjoying their company, lots of yummy food, and delicious wine!

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones and the absolute best of what 2017 can bring you,
Megan

Origami Paper Christmas Trees

Hi Friends,
How was your week????? The last two days here in North Carolina have been cold, cold, cold! I was able to work in the garage yesterday on a make-over piece with a small electric heater working by my side but today it was too cold! I was happy to get some errands done, sell some of my made over pieces, and work inside in the warm house on this craft I wanted to share with you that my internet friend, Barb, shared with me. Do you have any friends that you haven't met in person but yet you have tons in common with them? That's Barb for me! She's a fellow former educator, loves nature, and this is really important she LOVES books! Maybe more than I do! Thanks for sharing this cool craft with me Barb!!!!!

Here's a very simple paper craft. All you need is paper. Any color. Any pattern. Any size. Each tree only took me a minute or two. Really. That. Simple.

Video tutorial is at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!!!!

Origami Paper Christmas Trees:

By the way, we have 5 Christmas trees in our house. I have a bit of problem with LOVING Christmas. This tree is our 'winter wonderland' themed tree. I made all of the ornaments or bought them at the dollar store (there are a few, just a few expensive ornaments from some real stores but not many) and it's my favorite tree. Oh and starfish too.

Here's the video tutorial I just had to watch a few times before I had the routine down pat:

Okay, back to making a few more trees for our guest room My brother and his family are coming here from California on Monday to celebrate Christmas with us. I thought this sweet little Origami trees would make our guest room look more festive.

By the way, Mr. Chalkboard Cottage, has been working so hard wrapping up replacing our tile in our kitchen. I tried very hard not to let you see our kitchen (which is the adjoining room to our family room above) so that I could reveal our newly made over kitchen probably on Monday!!! Just in time for our family to arrive for the holidays!

Merry Christmas friends!!!!!
Thanks again for joining me today.
Megan