Chaos update

My, oh my!  What have I gotten myself into?

I had planned posting pictures of previous projects during the onslaught of destruction happening in my little world.  But, as so often happens in this world I live in, one project snowballs into many, many more.  When we last chatted, I was getting a new counter height desk for my office.  This led to painting the cheap paneling, and pulling up the worn out, industrial type carpet.  We had decided to lay new laminate flooring, and of course, that led to laying new flooring throughout the rest of the house.  During all of this, I had bought a fridge Craigslist to replace the old one that came with the house when we moved in.  Unfortunately, the old one never really fit where it was.  The door wasn't able to open all the way, which made getting to the items on the bottom shelf a bit of a problem.  I literally had to lay on the kitchen floor to reach anything that got pushed to the back.  This is not my idea of a dignified way to retrieve groceries, especially when we had company over!  I found a beautiful side by side that would work wonderfully in that spot.  Unfortunately, it never got cold!!! UGH!  I had the repair man come out and give me the bad news.  It would cost at least $800 to fix the fridge.  I'm not going to lie, I cried when he left.  I had paid $350 for this heap, and another $75 for the diagnosis.  A very expensive lesson for me to learn, but from now on, I don't buy appliances from Craigslist.   My darling husband and I went shopping for a new fridge the following weekend.  Not an expense I was planning on dealing with, but, oh well!  

OK, now that you have the "back story", here are a few pictures of the office progress.  Still a long way to go, but I'm hoping to be back to creating in a day or two. (I hope, I hope, I hope!)

In the first picture, you can get a good look at the dark paneling and the floor midway through ripping out the carpet.  Now, I know I said I was going to lay new laminate flooring in the office, but crazy as it may sound, I decided I liked the funky, 70's vinyl that was under the carpet.  It's kind of retro/bohemian/western, which actually works for me.  So I decided to keep the vinyl.  Also, very little of the floor will be showing when all is said and done.

A little more flooring.

YIKES!!!  This is after primer and 2 coats of paint, if you can see it through all the books and junk that got shoved into the room so we could work on the hallway floor.  It's a little embarrassing to show this "aspect" of my life, but I like to keep things real, and honestly, I live in chaos more often then not.  

Now, on to the quick "project" photo.  I created this wreath for the Consultant Showcase at the Close To My Heart Convention last June.  I've had this bicycle wheel laying around for a year or so.  Of course, when I first pulled it out of the trash, my husband was wondering what my plans were.  I didn't know at the time, but I knew I was going to make something!  

I used the Artiste cartridge to cut the flowers, leaves, and butterflies, but various patterned papers.  The largest flowers were cut at 11.5" and the smallest at 5".    This is a super simple project that can be completed in a couple of hours.  

I hope you enjoyed the quick, very candid look into my world, lol!  The desk has been delivered, and put together, and now I just need to get the rest of my stuff put away.  I hope to have new photos tomorrow, but as we all know, ANYTHING can happen between now and then, haha!!!

Stick with me, my dears.  I promise, lots of fun projects are coming very soon.