Pinterest Challenge: Handpainted Mugs

As promised, I'm here for a Winter Pinterest Challenge inspired by two of my favorite bloggers- Sherry at Young House Love and Katie at Bower Power.  It actually inspired me (a word I've seen little of recently, if you remember from the last post) to create several small projects over the weekend!  Woohoo!  More to come on those later :)

The marker or paint decorated mug is nothing new on the ol' Pinterest, but I've been "pinning" and not "doing" for far too long.

This was my PINspiration (muahaha), from Wit & Whistle... adorable blog, by the way.

Courtesy of Wit & Whistle

Amanda actually used porcelain paint for her mug, but I went a different route.  I've recently been loving on the Sharpie paint pens, and scored one for about 3 bucks with a coupon at Michaels.

While I was there, I just happened to find this kid-geared mug and marker set on sale for $1 :)

After using a pencil to mark where I wanted my vertical lines on the top of the mug, I drew them on with the Sharpie paint pen.

Then I went back and connected the lines to make it chevron style.  Once it was finished and sat overnight, I baked it to set the paint.  I started with a cool oven, added the mug, and heated it to 350 degrees.  Thirty minutes later, I turned off the oven and left the mug inside until cool.

Not perfect, but I'm kinda diggin' the imperfections.  I was a little antsy to use that paint pen again though, so I found another white mug in the cabinet and added some doodles.  I repeated the whole oven process, too.

I'm seriously crazy about these Sharpie paint pens now.  I even created a little print for the dining room after I was out of coffee mugs!  Come back soon to catch a glimpse :)

Thanks to Sherry and Katie for hosting the Pinterest Challenge- Winter Edition!

February Blues

This happens every February.  After the energy of Christmas and the new year has worn off and the weather has been nothing but cold and gloomy for 3 months, I start to get antsy.  It never fails.  We have a calendar-full of fun plans starting next month, as well as a long-awaited and exciting trip coming up in April... but for now I'm feeling uninspired.  No, that's not right.  I'm inspired to drink coffee and watch Breakfast at Tiffany's at home in my sweatpants.  I have a couple of posts to work on in the near future, but I'm feeling more like admiring others' posts and projects than creating my own.  So after a week of avoiding the blog altogether, I'm here to share a few things that are giving me a glimmer of inspiration these days... and a few things for which I'm really needing inspiration.

Super awesome rugs and curtains.  Especially bold colors and prints.

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SwoonWorthy.  I love Kimberly's British wit :)  Plus, she's got an olive velvet Chesterfield sofa that's basically everything my heart desires.

Courtesy of SwoonWorthy.

Also this Pinterest Challenge from two of my favorite bloggers- Sherry at Young House Love, and Katie at Bower Power.  I'm obsessed with both blogs equally, so of course I'll be participating in the challenge.  I've got a couple ideas up my sleeve.  If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have gotten a sneak preview.

Old spring and summer-time pictures, like these...

I'm dying for some FRESH produce...

Okay, maybe they make me more nostalgic than anything.  Where are you, spring?!

And now a few motivation-requiring events on the horizon...

Re-tiling the kitchen floor.  You know the bathroom's already been done, but this... is going to be a project.

Major landscaping fixes.  Yea, it's time to do something about this:

 ...aaaaand this:

Lastly, the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis is coming up in May, followed by...

...the Chicago marathon in October!  

As you may remember from last year, my old-lady knees (as I so fondly refer to them) prevented me from running my second half-marathon.  I've been working and stretching my knees back into shape since then, and I'm finally back on a training schedule.  I've signed up for the half-marathon in Indy, and I'm now awaiting the registration opening for the Chicago Marathon.  Both have given me the same level of inspiration I get from Pinterest after a glass of wine... so I've been coming out of hibernation for a run several times a week.

Stick around for my version of the Pinterest Challenge!

Slap a Little Paint on It

I showed you my Craigslisted cabinet in this post, but I haven't gotten around to showing you the finished makeover until now!  

I started with this guy for $20.  Shabby, right?  Someone loved that green/gold spongepainty look at one point, but it wasn't working here.  

And check these out.  Especially the ones in the background.  Falling a little short in the leg department?  

Here's what I had to work with.  

• 6 little legs from Lowe's- $1.50 each
• $3 sample container of Valspar satin paint in "Almost Charcoal"
• foam paint brush
• mini foam roller- the same kind I used for the kitchen cabinets
• fine grit sand paper- I used 220, because the original paint was flat and I just needed a little roughing.

The new legs.

After taking the lion pull off the front (which is completely awesome, by the way), I sanded the whole thing down.  Next, I wiped over the surface with a damp cloth and got to painting once it was dry.  I painted the new legs separately, then added them on at the end.  Total cost for this little cabinet including facelift?  32 bucks :) 

The mirror came with the buffet we have in the dining room.

I've been getting a lot of questions about the next giveaway- For those of you wondering, we don't have a date nailed down yet, but there's some good stuff coming your way in March!  Stick around!

Valentine's Day Giveaway Winner

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day, whether you celebrated with your hunny, your family, your friends, or your cat :)

I'm here to announce that Rafflecopter has randomly chosen a winner for the Etsy giftcard and PosterSavvy print giveaway.  And the winner iiiiiiiiiiis...

Entry #36: Connie!  Congratulations, Connie!  Your PosterSavvy print and $25 Etsy giftcard will be arriving soon.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and don't give up... Another giveaway will be coming up in March!

Chester for Cheap

As I discussed in this post, I've been doing a little more thrifting and Craigslisting lately.  I am seriously on a roll this month though!  If you remember, I was gushing before about how super-duper amazing it would be to find a Chesterfield sofa for less than... ya know... 1000 bucks.  Ohmygoodness did I find the perfect piece!

I happened to look at Craigslist Saturday morning just seconds after this post was written:

Umm... a Chesterfield sofa AND 2 chairs?  For... $169?!  Holy moly was I on it!  Naturally, I professed my creepy, stalker-style, undying love for this sofa to the guy selling it.  We stopped by Monday afternoon to see it, and the seller told us he had gotten over 50 responses in the first 3 hours and had to remove the listing.  And yours truly was the first to respond!  Woop woop!

Tuesday evening we rented a Uhaul van for about $30 to get the thing home.  And here he is.  Chester.  My lover.  Isn't he handsome?!

Now that our furniture family is complete, what's left to do?

1. Tile the fireplace.  I'm thinking small white and grey marble, like this, this, and this.  And I'm also loving the different designs from Home Depot, like this one and this one.  For such a small area, price won't be much of a factor.
2. Spruce up the floor tile around the fireplace.  I'm thinking about painting it.  We'll see.
3. Replace the curtains with something darker and heavier.  I considered painting the walls darker, but curtains are much easier :)

Don't forget, the Etsy Valentine's Day Giveaway ends Thursday!  Scroll down to get your entries in before it runs out!

Valentine's Day Etsy Giveaway!

Considering that Etsy ranks high on my list of internet addictions, naturally it would be featured for Acrylics and Icing's first... giveaway... ever!

Mara's little Etsy shop, PosterSavvy, sells adorable prints like the ones below, and now's your chance to score one!  The winner will choose from the 4 print options listed in her store, complete with crisp white frame as pictured.  I think these guys would be cute hanging alone, propped on a shelf, or mixed with a variety of other prints.  Do I hear a gallery wall calling somewhere?

But wait... there's more!


The lucky winner will actually receive two prizes...  a print from PosterSavvy, as well as a $25 Etsy giftcard to spend as you wish!  BOOM!

Use the handy-dandy gadget below to enter.  Just type in your email (or sign in with Facebook) so I'll have a way to contact you if you win.  Then complete the steps.  Each step you complete will get you an additional entry, so you have up to 3 chances!  Keep in mind to complete the first step you must become a follower of Acrylics and Icing by using the "follow" or "subscribe to: posts" buttons in the right sidebar.  So you can't click "enter" for the first step until you're officially following :)  If you have questions or issues with entering, feel free to email me at LindsayArvinRD@gmail.com, or just leave a comment.

The winner will be chosen (at random) on the big V-Day herself, so check back Friday to see who won!  Good luck! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Photos courtesy of Mara's shop.