Saturday, September 26, 2009

New Addiction

Remember my creating center Hubby let me make in the garage? Well, I have been searching for a stool so I can sit while I get my craft on. Awhile back I saw a simple wooden stool like this at Goodwill and they wanted $15 for it! Highway robbery I tell you! You can buy them brand new for that much at Wally World!

A few nights ago while doing my daily check of Craig's list, a lady was selling 3 stools for $10. I quickly e-mailed her asking if she meant $10 a piece or for all three. She replied $10 for all three! I raced over and picked them up! Confession~ Craig's list is my new addiction!
I had paint left over from my entry table so I painted them teal, and Mod podged numbers on that I cut out of Amy Butler paper!
I love how they turned out! Now, not only can I sit and get my craft on, but each of my daughters has her own stool to create on as well!


I had a few friends comment wanting to see the necklace I made from rosettes and mentioned in my last post. Here is a picture. It looks bigger than it is. Enchantress #1 called Sunday afternoon to see if I ended up wearing it to church. (I had to speak that day) Hubby answered the phone. When she asked him if I wore it, he honestly didn't know! He is very observant!:)



I also wanted to post a picture of what I put under my new cloche. I found these scary skulls at the dollar store. Yes, I am already decorating for Halloween!


Lastly, Jen at Vietti View awarded us with a honest scrap award! Thanks so much Jen! We love your blog as well!
We are linking this up to Kimba over at A Soft Place To Land for her DIY party

Monday, September 21, 2009

Savers Savings

I am linking this post up to Kimba's DIY party. Go on over and visit her amazing blog if you want to be inspired with kick awesome DIY projects!

A Savers thrift store recently opened in town and it has been fun having another place to go to find treasures! Where I live, Goodwill can be seriously overpriced! Savers has great prices, it is clean, and very organized. I made the mistake of going to the grand opening! It was a crazy, mad house! It has calmed down quite a bit now, and I thought I would share a few of my fun finds! This lovely mirror was 6.99
I took her outside to my wilderness of a backyard, placed her gently in my spray painting chair (yes I have a special chair I use for spray painting) and gave her a few coats of pink spray paint!

I hung her in my girls room! Eye level with them and they love it! My princesses have already spent tons of time in front of their mirror doing their hair, applying lip gloss, and admiring themselves! I over heard my 4 year old telling herself how adorable she is! (Oh how I wish I had that kind of self confidence!:)


Next, I found these three pieces. The to die for cloche was 3 dollars, the candle holder 1, and the little dish 1.



I put the three together to make this beauty! LOOOOOVE it! Now I have to find the perfect thing to put inside. Any ideas?


Last, but not least, I found this sheet. I can hear you all saying gross a used sheet! But I had other plans for this! Fabric can be expensive, so I thought in my crazy mind, I am going to pull a Maria (Sound of Music) and make hair bows out of this! So, I washed it and used this tutorial to make these adorable rosettes!

I have made sooo many rosettes and I still have tons of fabric (sheet left) I used some different fabric and made a black, rosette necklace that I wore to church yesterday! So google Savers and see if there is one near you! It is a fun, cheap, place to get creative!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

I Won!

Sometimes you just know if you were to meet some of your blogging friends in person, you would be the best of friends! This is how I feel about Jen from Vietti View! You must go and visit her adorable blog! Such style, such craftiness!:) Well, I entered a giveaway on Vietti View a few weeks ago and I won!!!! I never win! I was so excited because it wasn't any ordinary giveaway, it was a beautiful painting by the amazingly talented artist Erin W. Berrett.
You must go visit her website!! I was drooling over all of them!

Here is the beauty I won! Don't you just love it!?! Below is just a sampling of her amazing work!


Yummy! Wouldn't this look adorable in your kitchen?

I looooooove me some animal print, and I have the perfect dress to go with these!:)

This purse is to die for! Wish I had it!

And she is a woman after my own heart! Hubby says we should buy stock in Diet Coke, I drink so much. Erin is amazing!!!!!! Thank you so much Jen for the opportunity to win and Erin for being such a kick awesome artist!:)


My new painting goes perfectly in my kitchen


Isn't it beautiful?!
I started decorating for fall, so I thought I would show you what I have done so far!











Thursday, September 10, 2009

Fluffy Chick Baby Shower

The inspiration for this shower came from a conversation I had with my friend Lisa prior to knowing I was going to throw her a shower. It went something like this:


Lisa: "Do you know where I can find a baby chick?"


Me: "Um, a real one?"


Lisa: "Ya,(giggle) I am CRAVING to hold a baby chick!"


Me: (Laughing)"That is so funny, I don't know, maybe out at Hacienda Hay and Feed...why a chick?"


Lisa: "We always had chickens growing up, I just love them and want to hold one so bad!"



Needless to say, when one of Lisa's friends asked me to help her throw an early term shower for Lisa because she would be leaving town soon (military husband), I knew exactly what direction I wanted to go. The problem was that we had to act fast. We threw this thing together in three weeks.


First, the invitations. It was a challenge finding chickie invites. I finally found these self printable cutie's at partypail.com
If you can't see it clearly, the invitation read:

A little birdie told us that Lisa Kendall is expecting!
Come help us feather her nest on Saturday September 5, 2009...
I then added some feathers in the envelope (no extra postage required) for an extra surprise when the guests opened it.


Next step, the decorations. I was thinking "fluffy" and decided tulle (of course) would work wonderfully.
I created balls of tulle, trimmed them, and added felt feet and beaks. I cut open 'googly eyes' and used the inside circles for the chickie's eyes. ( I will post a fluffy chick tutorial soon).


I made some mini chicks,

and put them in these bird cages that I found at Micheals Craft 80% off!



Then we hung them at the center of the buffet table,

and throughout the main room.

I wanted to make nests of some kind and so my next little project included these clearance finds:
Straw hats, garlands and shredded stuff called excelsior. (all found at Micheals Craft Store)

I gave the straw hats a light coat of brown spray paint, tore up and frayed the edges, added sprays of the garland, and completed each nest with a medium sized chick and a few feathers. We sprinkled the front porch with these nesting chicks and had a twig wreath with one nestled in it on the front door to welcome the guests. I of course forgot to get a picture of the porch, but believe me, it turned out pretty cute.

Back inside I made the nest of wisdom and wishes.

The guests each wrote their advice and wishes for the new mom and baby on the back of these paper chicks then placed them in the nest.


To make the paper chicks I simple drew and cut out a pattern on card stock then traced it onto cute paper. We are putting these in an album for a keepsake for the mother-to-be.

Inspired by the plates I found on partypail.com, I made this little chickie family out of more tulle.
The sweet plates.

On the top tier are eggs in a nest that I had on hand and found at Target's Easter clearance.

The buffet table, minus the fruit, I forgot to put that out until later...
...but I cut a watermelon like a hatched egg and put the fruit salad in it. Fun little touch.

My amazing friend Laurel made these cupcakes. I found the idea from Martha's baby bird cupcakes.
Laurel improvised on the beaks which made it much easier and just as cute I think. She simply pulled the frosting tube away to make the pointed beak. She used broken chocolate sprinkles for the eyes. They were almost too cute to eat!
We played quite a few games but these two I thought were the cutest.
1.)Notice the Chiclets around the Mom-to-be's neck? I found the Chiclets at Dollar Tree and had to use them for something! Chiclets at a Chickie Baby shower...come on!
We gave those to every guest upon entering. When someone said "baby" another person was allowed to take their necklace. It was an ongoing game throughout the shower and we had a lot of laughs from it.
Then, there was the egg game. My friend Rochelle came up with this one (she also graciously let us use her home). She took 25 items and put them in the egg! We all had to write down what we thought was in there. When time was up, the mom-to-be cracked it open and told us what was in it. It was amazing how many items could fit in there!

Last but not least, the shower favors. When I was planning the shower we didn't know if Lisa was having a girl or boy yet. I secretly wanted her to have a boy so I could play on the "chick magnet" saying for the favors. However, a few days before the shower, we found out she was having a girl. I still used the magnets because I thought they mimicked eggs in the nest and were an unique, useful gift for the guests.
I took flat-bottomed glass marbles (found at Dollar Tree), cut out these adorable chickies that I found on Etsy. Then modpodged them to the marbles.
I then used an industrial strength glue called E-6000 to glue on extra strong magnets.

I used mini straw hats (only .20 each!) and transformed them into nests.
The little sign said, "Thank you for feathering Lisa and Justin's nest today."

With touches of feathers and excelsior (that is a new word for me, you know, the shredded stuff) I placed 3 magnets in each "nest".


The guests loved these reminders of the fluffy chick shower.

We are linking this chick baby shower to A Soft Place To Land for Kimba's DIY party!