2011 September

Whatcha Been Up To {Wednesday}

September 21, 2011 3 Comments

So last night I realized that my little ole blog broke 900 followers

… and I cried (happy tears, of course)!

Thank you for your support, love, kindness and most of all thank you for taking time out of your day to read Johnny In A Dress!

You all are fabulously awesome and I love you and you and you and YOU!

…Now back to the regularly scheduled program…

Learn how to make this super cute Paper Halloween Banner over at Alderberry Hill.

Kacey from Stay At Home Artist created this AWESOME Yoga Skirt from a t-shirt! Poor Ross will not have any shirts left in his closet because I will for sure turn them all into skirts for ME!

Tanya shares how to make these Clay Flower Cobochons!

(I always wondered how these were made!)

Michelle from My Life As Mrs. H created this fabulous Wreath!

Totally need to make one for my house!

Kelli at The Turquoise Piano really painted her piano turquoise! If I ever get my hands on a piano, it would ~~probably~~ most definately end up looking like this one!

Love it!

Make sure to grab a button if you were featured today!

Happy Wednesday!

Filed Under: Featuring YOU, Inspiration, Whatcha Been Up To

Studio 162 Giveaway!

September 20, 2011 71 Comments

One of our AMAZING sponsors is

and I am SUPER excited today because one lucky JIAD reader will win a $35 credit to Erin’s shop!

(Yes, a THIRTY FIVE DOLLAR credit!)

You GOTTA go check it out!

At Studio 162, Erin transforms thrift store finds into fabulous treasures!

Like this amazing jewelry box (this is soooo going on my Christmas list!)!

Really, I am obsessed…

This beautiful wooden pedestal bowl would be PERFECT in my house!

LOVE it!

Wooden Pedestal Bowl Lavender Shabby Chic

And these candlesticks make me all giddy!

I NEED these for Harper’s room!

Picture Frame Collection -- Preppy Pinks and Greens

…Ummm and I HAVE TO HAVE this sconce.

(I’ll take one of everything, mmk Erin?!)

This is just a TINY taste of what Erin has to offer at Studio 162!

Are you freaking out?!?

I AM!

(would it be rude for me to enter in a giveaway on my own blog?!? LOL! JK – not really…)

You MUST be a JIAD follower to enter this giveaway (because JIAD followers are the coolest people EVER and I want one of you to win!)!

You may leave one comment for each:

1. Click on over to Studio 162 and tell me what you would choose if you won!

2. Follow Studio 162 the blog! (It is AMAZING, really! Erin shares her transformations!)

3. Leave Erin some JIAD love on her blog!

4. Tweet or Facebook about this giveaway!

Make sure to include @JohnnyInADress and a link to this page!

5. Follow JIAD on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest!

The winner will be announced Monday, September 26th!

Ready, set, GO!

Filed Under: Giveaway, Sponsors

Craft Room Reveal!

September 19, 2011 51 Comments

Ok, Ok I have tortured you enough!

I am going to start out by showing you the finished product! Then I will take you inside the drawers and share my storage solutions! Most of the furniture was FREE in this room, so there will be some super fun transformations coming up on JIAD!

Here is the big reveal…

Welcome to our Craft / Playroom!

This is where I spend most of my day:

And if I am not there, then I am most likely here:

Pairing fabrics, cutting away, coming up with new products for you!

(Isn’t that old ice cream churn turned trash can neat?!? I found it on the side of the road!)

Here is a look of the craft/playroom when walking in from the dinning room!

Crayon Rolls, fabric scraps and Bloomin’ items are displayed on the shelf in the corner.

Yes, I found it on the side of the road.

You can see that transformation here!

This is what I see when I look behind me while I am sewing.

My cutting table in the corner was given to me by my mother in law a long time ago. It was used as a kitchen island in our old house and now serves as the perfect cutting table! The shelves hold tons of fabrics that are ready to be used! We love our little Sitting Stools! And there is my spray painted sofa – you can see that transformation here!

This is what you see when you walk into the playroom from the foyer:

The top of the filing cabinet turned out to be one of my favorite spots!

I love to display my favorite fabrics because they inspire me!

…And so do happy quotes too!

There it is!

Our craft/playroom!

In the next few days, I will let you take a peek inside the drawers (we all love to snoop!)!

And share some of my storage ideas too!

Not too shaby for an room that pretty much cost NOTHING!

I am linking this post here , here and to these awesome places!

Filed Under: Crafting, Decorating, Inspiration, JIAD, My Craft Room, My House, Thrifty

"Look at me Mommy, I CAN Stand!"

September 17, 2011 17 Comments

I know I usually write about Cliff on Sundays, but this is so BIG I couldn’t wait!

I walked into Conductive Education to pick Cliff up on Thursday and this is what I saw:

What you are seeing is REAL.

Cliff is starting to stand on his OWN!

Even if it is only for a few seconds at a time, the boy is doing it!

On Friday, Cliff was standing a little bit better!

You can see how hard he has to work to hold his body up in this picture:

God continues to work his wonderful miracles right before our eyes!

I am so thankful that my little boy can teach others so much about the Lord’s good deeds!

We are so blessed to live everyday with Cliff, the biggest inspiration of all!

These moments may seem so small to some, but to us, these moments are HUGE, GINORMOUS, BIGGER THAN BIG! In these moments, Cliff’s life is changing. These are the moments when his brain is making proper connections. These are the moments when he realizes “Yes, I can!”

We can not express how much we LOVE Krisztina. It is the best feeling in the world KNOWING that we are leaving Cliff with someone who loves him and truly cares about him just as much as we do everyday. The connection they have is amazing. She can get Cliff to do things that NO ONE else can! The first thing he says every morning is “Do I get to go to Camp with Ms. Krisztina today?!” and the last thing he says before he goes to sleep every night is “In the morning I get to see Ms. Krisztina, right?!” We will forever be grateful for Krisztina. She is changing Cliff’s life in so many wonderful ways. We can not thank her enough!

And I can not celebrate this moment without glorifying the Lord! He is wonderful. His light shines through Cliff on a daily basis. God is using the Boy as a teaching tool and we could not be more thrilled! Although the path we are on is not always easy or perfect, we will forever be grateful to God for his daily work in our lives. The Lord has taught us so much and we know that with Him by our side, anything is possible. He is our rock and we will forever sing His praises!

Psalm 28:7The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,And with my song I will praise Him.

Filed Under: Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy, The Boy

THANK YOU!

September 16, 2011 3 Comments

Thank you for your support.

Thank you for your sweet comments.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to read Johnny In A Dress.

Thank you for sending me emails that make me cry happy tears!

Thank you for being there when I need you.

Thank you for encouraging me to “keep going!”

Thank you for sending me a sweet message, leaving the perfect comment or just an email saying “I hope you are having a great day!” when I need it the most (I swear you all now EXACTLY when I need a happy note!)

But most of all, thank you for making Johnny In A Dress become a “community” where we can all inspire each other. Rely on each other. Cheer for each other. You inspire me everyday and I am so thankful for YOU!

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by each and every one of you!

So, to say “Thank You” use the code THANKYOU to receive 15% off your entire order at The Shop!

THANK YOU!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Uncategorized

The Potty Pirate!

September 15, 2011 7 Comments

We all know that potty training the littles is not a walk in the park… and everyone told me that for some reason, boys are more difficult to potty train than girls… Throw a little CP into the mix and one would think Cliff would nearly impossible to potty train….

THEN we went to the beach for a week and accidentally “forgot” Cliff’s diapers.

While Cliff was napping on the first day we were there…

The POTTY PIRATE came to visit!

Yep.

He sure did!

He even left Cliff a super cool potty map so that every time Cliff went potty he could put a pirate sticker on the X. Once all of the X’s were stickered up, Cliff got a surprise!

The Potty Pirate even left Cliff his very own Treasure Chest filled with all sorts of loot!

Cliff drank a TON of Pirate Juice and his potty went with us EVERYWHERE we went. The first few days we did not go anywhere, except for on the beach and yes, the potty came with us… on the beach. Cliff was super pumped by the Potty Pirate and was pretty much potty trained almost instantly! Once we felt like he was a little more comfortable with going in the potty, we ventured out and took the potty along… Seriously EVERYWHERE…

(Let’s face it… those monster public potties are SCARY. Trust me, just take the little potty with you so when your little one has to go, you can take him to the bathroom and he will be comfortable on his own potty!)

Want the Potty Pirate to visit your little?!

Here is a printable of the Potty Map and The label for the juice:

Pirate Potty Map Printable

Pirate Juice Printable

After you print them out, take the pages to the sink and burn the edges VERY carefully. Make sure to have you water running so you can just run the edges under the faucet to extinguish the fire.

Once all of the edges are burnt, it should look like these:

Next I took a paper towel and balled it up.
Then I dipped it in brown acrylic and gold acrylic paint…

And sponged it onto the Potty Map!

Once all of the maps were done, I laid them out on the stove to dry.

I did the exact same thing for the juice label except once it was completely dry, I laminated it and hot glued it to a pitcher (it peeled right off when we were finished!)
Jill told me about an eBook she used for her boys that worked for them.
You can find the eBook here.
We combined this method with the “Potty Pirate” and it worked like a charm!

The biggest advice I can give you is:

STICK WITH IT.

Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have!

Yay for the Potty Pirate!

…I can’t wait until the Potty Princess pays Harper a visit!
…until then…
potty on!

Filed Under: The Boy

Whatcha Been Up To {Wednesday}

September 14, 2011 4 Comments

Each week it gets harder to choose which AWESOME projects to feature because ALL of you are super talented! I am amazed at all of your wonderful ideas!

Let’s see whatcha been up to!

I am LOVING this cute Ruffle Skirt Tutorial over at Elisa Loves!

These Pom Pom Trees created by Amy over at One Artsy Mama is so much fun!

Check out these fabulous Trick or Treat Pillows that Jessica from Chapman Place made:

Speaking of Halloween, have you seen this cutie Button Pumpkin over at A Pumpkin And A Princess?!?

This Felt Flower Pillow Tutorial created by Lindsay at Southern Lovely is soooo on my To-Do list!

These Monster Cupcakes from Makoodle.com WILL make an appearance at our house this October!

Make sure to grab a button if you were featured today!

Have a happy Wednesday!

Filed Under: Whatcha Been Up To

The Girl’s New Love

September 13, 2011 5 Comments

The Girl is addicted to…

“Yo’s!”

(aka shoes)

And even if they are a major source of frusturation….

…she can’t seem to resist trying ALL of them on.

Ross better get ready….

The Girl is in love with “Yo’s”!

Filed Under: The Girl

Sitting Stools!

September 12, 2011 35 Comments

In our playroom are these fun sitting stools!

Ross brought them home from his Grandmother’s house for the littles to sit on.

They had SOOOO much potential, I couldn’t wait to work some magic on them!

I started by wiping them down really well then I separated the cushion from the stool.

Once they were all disassembled, I gave them a good coat of white spray paint:

After letting them dry REALLY well, I gave each stool a weathered look using a piece of sand paper.

Next I picked out three fabrics I wanted to use in the playroom and reupholstered the cushions.

(I pretty much did them this way.)

Now these cuties are neatly stacked in our playroom when they are not in use!

(Aren’t you dying to see the stuff in the background?! – insert evil laugh-)

I love the way these sitting stools turned out!

Now everyone has their own little place to sit!

A little paint, sanding and fabric goes a LONG way!

Happy Monday!

I am linking this post here , here and to these awesome places!

Filed Under: Decorating, Distressing, Make Your Own..., My Craft Room, My House, Revamping, Spray Paint, Thrifty

Saturdays.

September 10, 2011 4 Comments

This time of year Saturday is my favorite day of the week.

Around here everyone is decked out in garnet and black because after all, we live in Gamecock Country!

(ok, ok there is the occasional person who wears the dreaded purple and orange combo… jk! I still love you even IF you are a Clemson fan!)

Most away games, we watch on TV with these cuties and their parents!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends who are actually pretty much family!

The Girl will for sure be a cheerleader one day!

She already yells “Goooo Cocks” every time she sees anything USC related…

She can’t help it, it’s in her blood!

On Saturdays during football season, our yard is filled with energetic littles.

The sounds of laughter and excited squeals echo through the neighborhood.

And I smile, knowing all that happy noise is radiating from our yard.

Then there is the food.

Lots and lots of food.

And yes, on Saturdays brownies are considered a side dish, not a dessert.

Ross said is perfectly last Saturday in the midst of the mad chaos when we happened to bump into each other in the kitchen. He looked down at me and said “Our house is messy, chaotic and waaay to loud - this is perfect.”