My follower gadget is broken and so is my heart.

Hi Nesters,

I don't know what happened but today I checked my blog and my follower gadget wasn't working. It's like it just disappeared. Instead of seeing all the smiling faces and icons from my readers, there was this message. . .

"We're sorry. . .The item you are looking for was not found or has been deleted. Please try again."

I've tried to remove it and re-add the gadget and I've tried inserting the follower code from a backup of my template, but I still get the same results. I posted a help message on the blogger forum and am hoping someone who knows more about this stuff than I do will find a solution for me. In the meantime, my 184 Nesters (aka followers) are lost somewhere in limbo land and I am sad and heartbroken (I never realized how much I enjoyed looking at all of you lovely readers every day).

Here's my solution. . .since my preferred method of reading all of your blogs is with Bloglovin', I've decided to add my own Bloglovin' icon to my sidebar so you can follow me there too. In my opinion, it's a much better way to read blogs than using blogger's reader. I can also personalize my settings to have my favorite blogs' updates sent to my email (as they are posted, daily or weekly).

Click below to follow me via Bloglovin'

If you're not familiar with Bloglovin', here's a screenshot of what I see when I open up my page:

Of course, this is a reduced size version. But I can scroll down through the list of recent blog posts and read a short excerpt of each new post (click on "see all" on the blogs I follow gadget on my sidebar to see a real life version). If I want to see all recent posts by one particular blogger, I simply click on their name on the left and all of their posts show on the main screen. It's just a nice alternative to blogger/google friendconnect following gadget (especially if yours doesn't work anymore like mine).

Please keep me in your good thoughts and wishes and hopefully my old follower gadget will return one day.

"A Little Birdie" before and after (a Pottery Barn knock-off project)

Hi Nesters!

We've all seen the Pottery Barn chippy little time worn birds in their many variations. And we've also seen their price tags (yikes!). Well, on a recent trip to the thrift store, I found a little bird figurine ($1.39) that was crying out to be made over into just such a chippy bird. See his transformation below.

Pottery Barn bird candles

Pottery Barn ceramic bird

My thrift store bird

Here he is with one coat of espresso spray paint.

I applied one coat of heirloom white spray paint and lightly pressed a plastic bag on him to remove some of the paint while it was still wet. Then, I applied a little walnut ink with a dry cloth (you could use gel stain instead) to give him a more aged feel.

Isn't he cute? And since I already had the spray paint and walnut ink on hand, the whole project only cost me the original $1.39 I spent on him.

Right now, he lives on our coffee table.

Thanks for checking out my latest project. I'll be posting more transformations in the future.

I'm sharing this project at:

Making the World Cuter Monday at Making the World Cuter
Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog
Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie
Anything Related Tuesday at All Thingz Related
Tuesday Trash to Treasure at Rural Grace
Tutorial Tuesday at Hope Studios
Transformation Thursdays at The Shabby Chic Cottage
Everything But the Kitchen Sink Thursday at A Little Knick Knack
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
It's a Hodgepodge Friday at It's a Hodgepodge Life
Saturday is Crafty Day at Along for the Ride

Marvelously Messy

My latest home decor finds...pillow covers

Hi Nesters!
I've wanted to share my latest acquisitions with you for a while now but my new Etsy store (and "life" in general) has been keeping me busy. I decided to take a little break and post about my new goodies.
The first one is an embroidered "Nest" pillow cover purchased on Etsy. You know I love me some bird/nest stuff. It's a cute durable little pillow (made from cotton canvas) and perfect for my chair. I read in this chair a lot as well as watch t.v. The chair is so roomy that my 6 year old son often joins me in it. The pillow is getting lots of use but I know the cover will last a long time since I can remove the insert to wash it or mend it if necessary. Pillow covers are really a good way to go for pillows that will see a lot of use since you can replace the cushion inside when it gets old and flat.

The second find is a vintage inspired butterfly collage print pillow cover (also from Etsy). I couldn't find an insert this size in my local stores so I made one myself with some muslin and cotton batting. I think the neutral colors with a subtle pop go well with my decor. I added two faux suede pillows (only $12 each at Target) to round out the pillowscape on my couch.

This is a preview of my new coffee table. I'll be posting a little story about that in the future. And the rug you see here (which used to be in our media room) is getting replaced so I'll probably post about that in the future too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Robyn

***Sharing at My Romantic Home's Show & Tell Friday

Repurposed ugly coasters & tutorial

Hi Nesters!

Today's post is the first of a few "repurposing" projects I've worked on over the past few weeks. This one I did earlier this month. But I caught an awful cold bug and was down off and on (a mom's job doesn't stop when she's sick) for two weeks so I'm just now getting around to posting it. The other projects I'll be posting shortly are ones I did this past week while my son was out sick from school. Poor guy had a stuffy nose, cough and fever (usually around 100.4 but got as high as 101.5 on the last day) and missed an entire week of school. First up is my coaster project.

I've never really found coasters that were to my liking. I've found some that were "good enough" and utilitarian but none that I would actually consider leaving out on my coffee. Still not sure if I'll leave these out all the time, but at least they're cute. Okay, so I decided that I would search for some coasters that were ugly and cheap (easier to do than I thought) and redo them to suit my taste. My first stop, I visited a thrift store which is located a few doors down from my neighborhood grocery store and I found exactly what I was looking for. . .

Here's what I did:

1) Cover the top of the coasters with one coat of flat black acrylic craft paint and let dry.

2) Cover top of painted coasters with a coat of Mod Podge.

3) Cover top of Mod Podge coated coasters (say that 5 times fast, I dare you) with a piece of scrapbook paper (I had some left over from a previous project) and trim paper just to the edge of coasters. Let dry.

4) Take high grit sandpaper and (using a downward motion) remove excess paper from the edges of the coasters.

5) Apply a thin coat of spar urethane varnish. Let dry. Apply two more coats of varnish, drying in between coats. Sand with 400 grit sandpaper in between coats if you see brush marks. I didn't want a glossy surface on my coasters so I buffed with 0000 steel wool to remove the shine after the final coat dried.

Here are the finished coasters. Each one is unique but they all go together.

Voila!

If you've had trouble finding coasters to suit your personal taste, I hope my project inspires you. If you've already done a similar project, I'd love it if you'd share a link to it in the comments section.




Sharing this project at:
Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
It's a Hodgepodge Friday at It's a Hodgepodge Life
Marvelously Messy
Saturday is Crafty Day at Along for the Ride
and. . .at Jennifer Rizzo's Thrift Store Makeover Linky Party

Great deals on affordable makeup at e.l.f. and a contest

Just in. . .great deals from e.l.f. cosmetics. If you're looking for affordable high quality makeup, you've found it. I personally use the e.l.f. neutral palette and love it!

Click on the photo to shop and get your fabulous deal!

Have a beautiful weekend!

My Etsy shop is open for business!

Hi Nesters!

You may have noticed the announcement that's been sitting at the top of my blog letting you all know that my Etsy shop is coming soon. Well, that day is finally here. . .

Welcome to Beau Marché (boh mahr-shey "beautiful market")! Click on the avatar below (or on my shop banner above) to visit my shop.

I've always had a secret yearning to open and run my own store. Being a full-time wife and mother, it just didn't seem to be in my future. But since my family is my priority, I was okay with that. But Etsy (an online global handmade and vintage marketplace) has made it possible. It's sort of like eBay but without the auctions. And everything you find on Etsy is either handmade by the shop owner, vintage (more than 20 years old), or a supply that someone can use to handcraft things. That's it. No mass produced swap meet sunglasses here.

And I love buying on Etsy because I know that when I do, I'm helping an individual grow their business and possibly feed their family and not just padding the already fat bank account of a huge corporation.

I have 3 items in my store so far but I have several more vintage, repurposed and handmade items ready to be listed in the near future.

Thank you everyone who wished me well on Facebook. I appreciate your support!