A Birthday Shirt

My boy turned 8 yesterday. I painted an "8" on the back of a store bought shirt to celebrate the occasion. I used fabric paint, and made a template from an 8 enlarged and printed using my computers word processor. He thought it was cool enough to wear to school!

A Black Armchair

I wish I had a before photo for this thing. It was disgusting. The seat was a black and yellow plastic and the chair was a gross brown stain. I think that is why it was only $3 at the thrift store. I removed the seat, sanded the wood just a bit, sprayed it with black satin spray paint, disressed the edged just a touch and then put on a coat of poly. I just stapled a layer of new batting and then this cool fabric over the old seat and voila! A new chair! I did the whole project in less than 2 hours while my baby was at her first day of preschool. It was a celebration of the first time I had all my kids in school at the same time! Happy day!

Pink Cupcake Shower

This was quite the party! It was in honor of a dear, sweet friend who after 4 boys finally welcomed a girl into the family! We asked everyone to wear pink. We decorated 3 different kinds of cupcakes.

Don't you think she looks excited??? (PS By now she has lost all her baby weight, plus some, although that wasn't necessary and is an amazingly hot momma of 5 kids! She recently moved far away and I miss her.)

I made her a pink and red blanket with a cupcake print ruffle edge, a pink cupcake twirly skirt with 2 matching shirts. I need to remember to take more pictures!

We handed out "cupcake pops" (again, Bakerella) for favors, served meatloaf in cupcake tins with pink mashed potatoes on top (they looked very, very, kind of freakishly real) and she took home tons of cute things to help her prepare for a pink princess.

Tool Shower

This baby shower went so well, thanks to lots and lots of helpers. The Dad to be is in the plumbing business, so we went with a "tools" theme. Here is the blanket I made to match the party... we went with the black/white/turquoise color scheme. Cake truffles (from Bakerella). I just happened to find candy coating for dipping that matched the party!

I crazy stitched these appliques in place and made a clothes-line out of measuring tape to decorate the mantle.

One of my helpers brought this cake, it is store bought and decorated with toy trucks and candy. It was HUGE. Also at this table we had a jar full of all kinds of things (small tools, screws, nuts, bolts, etc.) and a "guess how many items are in this jar" game.

For the favor, I dipped oreos in chocolate and tied on this tag that matched the invitation.

A hot chocolate bar was a huge hit for this cold morning. We had a few types of marshmallows and whip cream on top. We also served chicken salad, green salad, croissants fruit and a few other things that I can't remember. The food was all so yummy.

Baby Bird Theme Shower

This was a fun baby shower for a good friend! We went with the "baby bird" theme. A bit untraditional for a baby boy, but it seemed to fit just fine.

I grew the grass from wheat. I had always wanted to try it, so I started small for my first time. It was the perfect height just in time for the party.

We served salads, hot ham sandwiches (yum) and water bottles and Fresca to drink. I wish I would have snapped a photo of a bird blanket and onesie that I made to match the party. Next time, I promise!

Back to School Outfits

I had so much fun making these little outfits out of store bought t-shirts and left-over fabric. I love having a daughter who thinks the things I make are great! I am sure it won't last too much longer, so for now I will enjoy every minute of it. The boys all got cheap shirts and pants from Target. They would rather die than wear something Mom made.

My New House!

Well... not really a new HOUSE, maybe just a new LOOK. I am the kind that gets sick of things around the house easily and is always ready for a change! Maybe it is because I stare at my house all day long. Anyway, the boys went out of town for a few days last week and my Mom was here with me and baby girl. My mother is the queen of decorating, and always is there to encourage me along the way. I am only a shadow of her talents. A very faint, weak shadow. Baby girl was recently potty trained and I sold the changing table on Craigslist! I found her this dresser at Salvation Army and after trying to do it the "right way" with a paintbrush and real paint, it looked DISASTROUS! Drips and streaks everywhere. Very, very sad. I sanded it lightly and used my trusty spray paint, and it turned out just fine! I even painted a Home Depot mirror to match, and glued pom poms to the mirror! I love having another girl in the house. She knows it, takes advantage of it, and as a result is totally spoiled!

My Mom knows how to change out light fixtures. She bought this herself, changed it herself and then let me know that our ugly light fixture has always bothered her!!! I just touched up the paint a bit.

Some pillows for a little bit of interest in this room. I am way into ruffles and pleats. These were all made from fabric, polyfil fluff and a pillow form I had on hand.

This was my baby for the weekend! I painted this wall red 6 years ago and it was time for a change. I found these awesome ink prints on vintageprintables.com and just printed them out on cardstock on my wimpy little printer! That website is amazing. Someone out there has scanned really old books that no longer are protected by copyright. It is kind of a mess, but with a little patience you can find pages of any theme imaginable. I especially like the botanicals. I was lucky enough to find these frames on CLEARANCE at Target. It took hours to frame these because there were tiny black bits from the frame that kept showing up on the mats! Insanity! Actually, it was really fun. Baby girl and my Mom were asleep and I had a few precious hours just to myself.

A few months ago I spray painted all my chairs sage green because there were so many mis-matched wood tones going on in this area (floor, cupboards, quilt cupboard, table AND chairs- all different). Last weekend I also painted the quilt cupboard black. Again my best friend, spray paint, had the job done in less than 15 minutes! The table and chairs were hand-me-downs, the cupboard was a Wal-Mart floor model on sale I picked up about a year ago. I am lucky to have collected lots of free or super cheap items!

Burger and Fries

This idea was from Bakerella, the genius. I love her. This would be so cute for a little boy's birthday, a boy baby shower or Father's Day. It was fun and pretty easy to make!

For My Sister, The Graduate!

This blanket and pillow will add some spice to her boring apartment. Congrats little Sister. Love you. The crazy quilt piecing on the pillow took longer than the entire blanket, but it turned out so darling and we have the memory of making it together. The little ruffle is, of course, the icing on the cake. Because, you know, everyone loves ruffles.

Little Girl's Summer Play Skirt and Shirt

Roman Shades

I couldn't sleep the night I found the tutorial for these roman shades made out of cheap mini-blinds on the brilliant blog, http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/.
I had the fabric in my stash, I just had to purchase the blinds (less than $4), some permanant fabric glue and the ribbon. I love how they turned out. It has made doing dishes a little less dreadful. Just a little.

A Little Lunch Party

This was a fun and very casual lunch party for a friend having a baby girl. I love having a pretty dessert table!

Baby Bundles

These blankets with coordinating burp cloths and bibs were so fun to make! I love the idea of coordinating items. These bibs are totally new for me, and I didn't use a pattern. I think they turned out really fun and I plan to make more of them! These were custom ordered and delivered on my summer vacation. It sponsored a fun shopping trip (yipee!), making the pre-vacation stress worth the extra effort.