Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Ava Turns Two... A Pinwheel Party!

This weekend was my daughter's 2nd birthday! We had a special time with our closest friends and family. I did a backyard "pinwheel" themed party with a picnic feel. Thought I would share some pictures...


I made pinwheels out of basic scrapbook paper and used buttons in the center... 
So easy and very inexpensive. 

The food table was full of little finger foods, fruit, a deli plate, and popcorn... 
I used vintage decorations of course.


My first attempt at making "pie pops"... apple and cherry... mmmm.


Mini Pizzas and Souffles....




Mason jars with pink striped paper straws... And Pink Lemonade


 Vintage Soda Pop...


Yummy lemon and strawberry "Cake'os" by Gracie Cakes...


Popcorn...


Pictures of the birthday girl... And fresh flowers all around...


Pinwheels....


And a few pics of the birthday princess....





Happy Birthday our little sunshine girl!







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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Burlap Sack Curtain Tutorial

A while ago I was contacted by burlapfabric.com to do a tutorial or project with some of their burlap sacks... I was honored and excited to receive some free burlap! Burlapfabric.com has a ton of burlap options at a really good price... I'm definitely going to be ordering from them in the future.

I decided to use one of the grain sacks to make a curtain valance for my kitchen nook corner.



I started with this large sack and cut along the long side (leaving the short side seam in place for less sewing) I cut just above the green line because I wasn't going to use the stamp for this project. Here's what the bag looked like before...


I did a quick stitch around the edges so that the burlap wouldn't unravel and two long seams for the curtain rod... thats all the sewing it took... probably less that 10 minutes. 

For the stenciling I traced a circle with a smaller circle inside using plates and a sharpie... yep, plates and a sharpie. I wanted a stamped look....


Next I filled it in with black fabric paint to give it a worn ink look... being sparing with the paint, you don't need much. Just dab the sponge and get the excess off on a paper towel or something so its not heavy paint. 


Next I used stencils to do the lettering. My design has our last name spread out along the bottom edge with "Est. 2008" inside the circle stamp. 


I'm happy with how it turned out... I like the rustic edges and subtle lettering. Its a little country rustic in my little kitchen nook... It was much easier than I thought it would be and only took about an hour for the whole project. 

I love that its personal with our family name...






Linking to...





Disclaimer:  I was given free burlap bags but I was not compensated to write this post.  All opinions and recommendations are 100% mine. 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Tantrums and a Surprise...

Ok, please tell me there are other moms out there who have had to walk away and take a deep breath before calmly disciplining their children. This was me last week when my precious {almost} 2 year old daughter threw our laptop computer on the floor in a temper tantrum of epic proportions. It was partly my fault for leaving it open on the coffee table. I guess it was a good reminder that spending quality time with her is still my number 1 priority. After a time out for both mom and baby, I came back to realize our computer screen had shattered with "spider webs" across the whole thing. Of course, warranty doesn't cover "that kind of damage"- oh you mean "two-year-old tantrum damage". Bummer. 

We could have replaced the screen but we'd been having trouble with the computer anyway. Oh and did I mention I just started a "work from home" job. My husband said we'd have to wait til at least next month to figure out what to do about replacing it. 

But little did I know, he had something up his sleeve. As I was packing for our trip to Portland (more on that later) I came in to zip up my suitcase and found a new MacBook Pro sitting in my suitcase with a little card... Here's what it said, 

"Happy Early Mother's Day! 
Thank you, babe, for being a great mom and an even better wife!
Happy Blogging ;)

Love, your husband"


Turns out our tax return was significant this year and he decided to spoil me. 
I am so excited! He's so good to me. 

So, I'm back. So sorry if I haven't gotten back to you if you've commented or started following... 
I'll be in touch soon! 
And I have a couple fun projects that I finished while I wasn't distracted by all my other favorite blogs last week. Including a burlap sack turned curtain valance... Here's a sneak peak...