Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Start of Something Beautiful


I have been wanting to redo our Foyer and open staircase, as well as the staircase leading from the kitchen to the upstairs.  The Foyer is two stories and I am not happy with the color of the wood, and their is a lot of wood!!!








Today I have started to strip the wood.  When I have completed this massive step (I have never stripped woodwork before, yikes!), I will restain the handrails and endposts and paint the spindles a creamy white to match the woodwork I have already repainted throughout our home.  My plan as of right now is to have this finished by Thanksgiving...  Wish me luck!

Friday, November 11, 2011

Journal to Remember

With Grandma and Grandpa being here, I wanted to make them something to record all their memories of their visit.  Their 10 day visit has gone by much too fast and so much has taken place during this time, we did not want them to forget anything about their time with us.

I love making journals and mini albums.  It is a smaller space to design and like scrapping a page, there are no rules, by the way that is my favorite part.  Tee hee hee.


This is the front cover, made with the same font used for the banner I made for Grandma and Grandpa's guest bedroom.  I have not bound the mini journal album yet, I am waiting for Grandma to journal in it.

Here are a few of the inside pages...

This page is ready for that perfect picture capturing a precious memory!


This journal pocket can come out from behind the picture matte.



This journal card can be taken out and a then I matted a perfect place for a pic behind.


This should keep Grandma busy journaling all her memories.  She has already started noting important moments and now they are ready to be permanently placed in her mini album that will fit perfectly in her handbag to show off her Grandkiddies to her friends and family.

Do you want to see more?  I am linking to the following, take a journey and check out these fabulous blogs!




Monday, November 7, 2011

Parents Need Spoiled Too

My one wish would be to call my Mom and simply ask "would you like to join us for dinner tonight?".  This was a frequent phone call I made in the past and miss being able to do this now.  So when we hear of our parents wanting to make the trip to visit our home, we start thinking of all the ways we can spoil them.  They worked very hard to give us everything we needed and it is fun to show them our gratitude and give them a special treat or two, tee hee hee.

My In-Laws arrived Friday and I wanted to put a smile on their face right away.  Decorating the guest bath and bedroom for this beautiful autumn season was a very appropriate decor choice.



The banner was made first by using cardstock from an autumn collection by Making Memories.  I had purchased the collection on 80% off clearance a couple of years ago at Michaels.  Hint, I only purchase my hobby items when they are at least 50% off.


I then started cutting 4 x 6 rectangles, and making them into perfect triangle, flag shapes.


For my last birthday, I purchased the Tim Holtz paper rosette die.  The rosettes would create a beautiful backing for the title of the banner.  Using my Cuttlebug for this die creates a little extra work, but the important thing is it does the trick without having to purchase a Sizzix.


And on to the assembly and inking...



Fall Festive!!!

The title I chose for the banner was "Happy Fall", the font is from the Storybook Cricut cartridge, fun vintage cartridge!!!

Next was the assembly of the "pretty" paper onto the already made cardstock flags and the adhering everything together.






The other item I always like to include in the guest bedroom is a basket of favorite snacks, water (plain and bubbly), and glasses.  This ensures the guests have what they need within their private space.  The bathroom is also always stocked with any and everything one might need.  When making any trip, items are often forgotten and there are no worries, extras are available, deodorants, soaps, shampoos, lotions, perfume, toothpaste, blowdryer, etc.


Well, so far we have been pretty busy!  Grilling out Saturday was a hit with the parents, thick center pork chops, cheesy hashbrown casserole,  and simmered green beans.  No one walked away disappointed.  This day also included our very own Sunflower Princess being involved in the Miss Walnut Valley pageant.  Rehearsal Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and pageant and reception Saturday night.  Our Princess was crowned by Miss Kansas herself (which is also our next door neighbor, needless to say we are big fans!), who will be competing for Miss America in January, watch it live on ABC!!!

Saturday was also my prep day for the Thanksgiving feast I was preparing for our family.  Pie crusts were prepared for the Pumpkin Pie, the Pumpkin Roll was made, as well as the Deviled Eggs and Crab Dip.  Oh, and not to mention, keeping up with the best football team in history, the University of Oklahoma's Sooners!!!  BOOMER!!!

Well, after our busy Saturday, we were finally able to sit and relax for a bit before bedtime.  While catching up with one another, the earth started to shake, yes, shake, it was a 5.7 earthquake... in Kansas!!!  WOW, what an experience!

Church and Sunday School started our Sunday morning.  We were delighted to have our parents join our Sunday School class, and they fit right in on our discussions and lessons.

After church, we came home to snack and start the Thanksgiving feast.  Our dinner included, of course, the turkey, oven baked macaroni and cheese, corn pudding, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, pumpkin roll and pumpkin pie.  I have not been able to put anything else in my belly since, lol!

Here comes my disappointment, I didn't take any pictures of the table once it was set with our china, stemware, place cards (made by our oldest and myself, cute pilgrim hats), etc.  sigh.... It looked beautiful, perfectly centered under the chandelier in the formal dining room, ugh!  The good news was a I was ecstatic I prepared everything, wearing a white button down shirt and it was still in perfect white after the feast, that's a first!

All in all, it has been very busy since Friday, but all the hard work was worth the laughter and giggles I heard.  We are very grateful for our family and miss the loved one we can no longer have with us.  With her loss, we truly appreciate and take every opportunity to show our love for all who are near to our hearts.  Once they are gone, you can not ask for that visit again...

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

A Trip to Wonderland

Now that the invites had been delivered and we have some very excited girls coming for tea, I had to get started with a transformation of my studio into Wonderland.  I could not spend a lot of money on this, so everything had to be cheap.  Where would this take me, yep, The Thrift Store and Goodwill.  My thought was to take different sizes of coffee cups and saucers and plates and mold them into tiered tray sets.




I believe you can do anything with a little Gorilla glue...




and spray paint.


With this Wonderland transformation, a back drop of sorts was necessary.  I contacted our local furniture and appliance stores and scored with some great cardboard section and boxes.



Once again, with a little spray paint, $.96 at Walmart, you can make trash into Wonderland.



The mushroom spots were created with paper bowls simply glued on with ordinary white glue!  EEK!!!

Did you notice the Cheshire Cat smile in the tree?

Decorating and setting the table was my favorite part!  Nothing had to proper, everything had to be irrational, love it!

Candle votives repurposed to candy dishes...



And the Dormouse...

And Dum Dums to represent "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum"...


Mismatched dishes, cookies decorated to say "Eat me" and don't forget we are celebrating Halloween, so in comes the spider web cookies...



 
All in all, it was "MAD"!




The girls had a wonderful time, the evening included a dance party and photo shoot as well.  They wore me out!!!

In the morning, Daddy offered to go out and grab doughnuts, but the girls remembered the homemade buttermilk pancakes from the last sleepover and I couldn't disappoint.


The one great thing that came out of our busy Halloween season was the fact the kids used their handmade costumes for seven different celebrations!  November is here now and we are awaiting visits from two sets of Grandparents and can't wait to spend time with each!!!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Come Visit

Recently, one of my clients which whom I created an album for her music studio, started her own blog, kendismusicnotes.  I was very excited to hear of this and wish her all the luck with this new adventure!  Her blog shares her personal struggles and triumphs, quite lovely!!!

To create a jump start, Kendi wanted to do a month of giveaways in November, her birthday month.  She contacted me with this idea and asked if I could create some cards for such an occasion.  I was delighted with the opportunity and knew right away which direction I wanted to go with this.  Christmas!!!

Here is what I created:







Please stop by and visit Kendi, check out her new blog, and you might just win these beauties among other fabulous giveaways!