Friday, August 26, 2011

I do still love my bobble bottle but the filters are not for as easy to find in the store anymore.  Had I known this Id have a closet full.  I am always on the lookout for a deal and I found a code for 25% off so I jumped on it.

FREE WATER  is the code. Im not sure how long its good for so test it before you hit send.  It worked for me today.

Water Bobble Website order here.

My Previous Bobble Post

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Walmart is a great place to get free samples.  They never need a credit card and ask just enough questions.  Often the samples come with a coupon to add to the savings.  I have found a few products I love just by trying them for free the first time. 

We also take the samples with us on trips.  Why buy travel sized when you gan get them for free?

Walmart sample link for Crest

If you try to get this and samples are out please let us know so we can adjust post.

XOXO Mist

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

I have been putting this project off for a while because I hadn't yet found the perfect shade of paint for my project. I found a cute rocking chair for my Little One at a yard sale and brought it home.


He loves it so I decided to fix it up for him. The paint was peeling and had been painted over instead of repaired so I stripped it. That took a whopping 6 hours and considering the size of the chair and the lack of detail in the wood, I would have thought that it would take much less. Who knew. So after stripping the paint, hacking the screws in half, and questioning my sanity, I sanded this little baby, put it back together and filled in the holes with wood putty and sanded again. I primed it, and let it sit for about a month while I decided what color to paint it.


Since I am new to this and I don't have a paint gun, I am limited to spray paint that I can find at HD, L's, and W's. Up til now I have used Zinsser Primer, Valspar paint, and Rustoleum paint. I have done pretty well with all those and have been mostly satisfied but this time I opted for a color by Krylon. I used Krylon gloss in Emerald Green. I love this color. Though, I don't know if I love the paint. I have read many good things about this paint but I found it to be weak as far as coverage goes. When I painted my chairs I used Valspar and one can of paint covered one full-sized chair with lots of detail with two coats and then some. It took me two cans of paint to paint this child sized rocking chair with no real detail. After I had painted it, I went to HD for something and found a very similar color by Rustoleum. I guess you could say I have buyer's remorse. C'est la vie. It is a beautiful color, don't you think?


I don't think the picture does it justice. 

                                          Eve

Sunday, August 14, 2011


As I am new to the spray painting game, I have found that different brands of paint require differing amounts of pressure to work their spray paint cans. That being said, I have used three brands of spray paint. One primer, and two regular paint. My first project with spray paint I did by hand. It was small so it wasn't terrible but still, after awhile I kicked myself in the pants for not buying a spray can handle. I only glanced at it while at the store buying paint so for my next project I sprung for this little gem.

The packaging says you can put it on any spray can including things like bug spray but I hope never to need that much bug spray that I need one of these. I used it with my primer and paint cans. The one I bought had a clamp that you just squeeze and it opens like a clothes pin making it easy to place on the paint can. I found it to be very helpful during my painting process and I think it even made my painting more even so I didn't end up with splotches. The one thing to know about this is that after I used it I had a mysterious blister on my middle finger. After using the handle the next day, I found out that the blister was caused by the handle. I think that if Rustoleum made the grip "softer" by adding a rubber grip cover or something like that it would eliminate this problem. My neighbor, who works with wood, says that he has experienced blistering also even with a more rounded grip handle. But in the end, all blisters aside, I would still purchase this and I will use this again. Were I to recommend it to a friend, it would be with the caveat that it caused me blisters.

Disclaimer: I have not been compensated for this review in any way and the opinions expressed are wholly my own.


                                         Eve

Friday, August 12, 2011

You know when you see something tasty and you think to yourself, "I'm full, but that looks good so I'm going to eat it anyway" and then you hate yourself afterward for eating it...well, that's me with this refinishing business. I get an idea in my head and think, "that'll be easy" and sometimes it's not. Well this time it wasn't. I have a sweet neighbor who was getting married soon and I asked her family what she would like or need. Her aunt told me she was in need of some dining chairs. I thought, "that can't be that hard to do." So I did it. First, in my usual style, I procrastinated and did a project that wasn't necessary but I wanted to do first and that took longer than I had anticipated, but that's another story in itself. Anyway, we decided on black chairs but I really wanted to try a two-toned look. Not something obvious, just very subtle. So I decided on trying to do some red-black chairs. I think it turned out pretty well. What do you think?






I found these cute chairs on KSL and sanded and primed them.




But then, to get the two-toned color I painted the chairs red. I got some awesome red paint for free so in the interest of saving money, decided to paint the chairs with a brush because I don't own a paint sprayer. Not my best idea. If you don't like the "country" look and by that I mean trees and rustic wood not twang and spurs, then I don't recommend using a paint brush especially on chairs. As there were so many nooks and crannies, it made it difficult to paint with a brush. I have to hand it to all the old time artisans who only did it by hand.


After I painted the chairs red, I sanded them again to try and get rid of my brush strokes. I may be wrong and just used a junky paintbrush but I seem to recall buying a nice one. Who knows, maybe you've had better luck with your brushes.
Next I painted the chairs black leaving some of the red showing through. I tried sanding but I went straight to primer when I did that so I found that if I just lightly painted certain areas it left the base color showing through just where I wanted it.


After all my painting was done I researched how to apply polyurethane.  I also researched polyacrylic but for some reason I chose polyurethane. I don't remember why. I round lots of websites explaining how to apply it and what the best way to apply it was and I kept reading that foam brushes were the best and cheapest way to apply it. So that is what I opted for. I read some forums for people finishing surf boards and I thought, "surely these people know what they are talking about." Well, I bought the cheap $0.99 foam craft brushes and tried them out on my chairs. I applied very thin layers of poly to assure that I wouldn't have bubbling, I did it in straight, even strokes in the same direction to avoid any weird bumps. I took my time and tried to do everything right applying I think four coats of the poly whilst waiting my recommended time in between. For all my hard work and following directions, I got streaks. STREAKS! It was awful! Well, it was to me. I'm hoping it ends up being one of those things where it looks bad to me because I am the one making it and no one else will even notice, but I'm sure with my luck...it won't be. Next time, I'm buying a gun. Let me know what you think. I'd love to hear from you.



                                  Eve

Monday, August 8, 2011

Lisa!!! Congratulations, Lisa you have won 100 Boxtops for Education for your school and highlights of our blog for you. You should have received an email with contact information and instructions on what you need to do.You must contact Bumblebliss via email at bumble_bliss@yahoo.com within 48 hrs or by 10:00 pm MDT on August 10, 2011 to claim your prize.

We had a tie for the winner of a $50 Walmart gift card courtesy of Bumblebliss.blogspot.com so they will each receive a $25 gift card to Walmart to be fair. Congratulations to Jamie and Stacie! You should be receiving an email with instructions on what to do.

Thank you all for entering our drawing and checking out our site. Please come back often for more tips, tricks, recipes, and giveaways!



                               Misty and Eve