nursery painting

This painting is going in a ultra mod nursery: orange, gray & black.

beautiful books

I always stop in front of this display at B&N. I want to grab all these books for my shelf. Really only for my shelf, not to read. I have bought up some 1950's Readers Digest condensed books for this purpose-to look pretty on a shelf. That condensed book concept makes me laugh, I'm sure these authors love having their work chopped down and squished up with some other books into 1 book.

The Penguin Classics Hardcover series, designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. 

ROBOT party

so little henry turned 4 & we had a ROBOT party. He requested a roller skating robot party, but we settled on a robot party. We've been dancing the robot, talking about robots, building robots, etc. for the past couple months. I get a little crazy-I can't get a grip. it is complete fun for me.

So my starting point for Henry's 4th bday was to start spraying painting all in sight SILVER, to raid Tim's utility closet, & purchase home improvement items I had no idea what their actual purpose was.

 

 Marshmallow/pretzel craft: Build your own robot (& eat it of course). Marshmallows are like crack to Henry.

  

Robot foam beads from oriental trading & others from Michael's.

  

Can you see tell how large this cake is? I started with the body & everything else had to be in proportion. I think some children were afraid of it when I brought it out.

It was easy to make. I used loaf pans, 9x12 & square pan to make the body. I decorated with sprinkle (to hide my icing job) & various green/blue candy. I used colored marshmallow creme for the icing (not completely ideal), but again Henry luvs m-mallows. cake tip: I made all the "pieces" beforehand and froze them & pulled them out a couple of days before.

My white IKEA picture frames-not sold online =(  you'll see those again.

 Our girl & boy robot!!! Thanks to my stash of USPS mailing boxes they came to life.

 jello in clear cups with duct-taped spoons.

 

one of the favors: some flashing things I found at $ tree & added the sticker & "necklace" string. Also gave wind-up robots (oriental trading) & pop rocks. 

we had a robot part hunt in the backyard. i divided the group up boys/girls & they found hidden robot parts (random silver painted objects: yogurt containers, tin & aluminum cans, etc.).

afterwards, the bigger kids tapes their parts together and made ghost buster backpack things. my sweet uncle pat was the ringleader & thankfully did not melt.

freedom

Freedom. I am certainly thankful for the selfless soldiers who have fought for our freedom. And during Sunday's sermon, this IMPORTANT type of freedom was coupled with another thought: in Christ we are free...free from the social norms & worries of this world, which in my case are: insecurities, being envious of beautiful homes in very sociable neighborhoods, wondering if our school selection is right, hoping my kids will love Jesus (OK, this one is legit), worrying that everyone else has lots of wonderfully close couple friends & are involved in all sorts of fun activities with them. Geez. I am a silly girl & I pray everyday God will take distractions from me & so that I will focus on being free in HIM. Free me up to serve Him, and to make use of my life & my time here.

dawg house

This is for my neighbor, Bob, who is THE grill master. It is for his great outdoor grilling area. God is good to give us them as neighbors, they bring over grilled treats often & take such good care of us. The first time I met Becky (Bob's wife)-she said she'd be like a second mom. I didn't know what to think about this, I wasn't sure how close I wanted to be my neighbors at that point. Well, she was right. She's taught me how to be a laid-back hostess (that it doesn't have to be perfect) & how to SMILE & be positive regardless of the situation.

summer salsa

Making this tonight and needed to share. Love this one because very few ingredients & perfect for hot summer. I was in a rush, so I put my in the food processor-no chopping!

I'm laughing to myself, pretending like I'm a food guru, propping out my ingredients. Considering this past week, made a quick thrown-it-all-in-there dish & Henry would not eat it because he said he thought it could be poo-poo. He wasn't being funny, he was really concerned.

Summer Salsa:
4 cups of green grapes
2 chopped green onions
1 can 4 oz. green chilies
juice of 2 limes
chopped cilantro, salt and Tobasco to taste.  

Chill and serve with tortilla cup chips.

hands stitch for Dad's day

I did it. It is not perfect, but I'm so glad to have these little hands remembered in a sweet way. You should try it. I just used the type yarn/twine I had here: raffia, thin ribbon & yarn. The fabric I used is just a very basic canvas. I'll practice a few more & then I'll add this to the list of dandy offerings.

sea cross

Mandy, this is yours! I made while on my beach trip with my little treasures I collected: shells, seaweed, driftwood, sand, etc.

This is me determined to paint on the beach, using my goggles as my water dish.

I brought back this driftwood and put in this glass container. Love anything that reminds me of the beach...(well besides tattoos & sunburn).

last minute father's day gifts

rock paperweight how-to right here.

 free adorable printables to use on his day. download available by love party printables.

  cute. tutorial here.

a little more involved, but i may attempt a variation of this for timmy.

summer shoes

 

Don't shop at Kohl's often, but I did recently & love their SO® line of shoes. Love it when I found the perfect summer shoes-got them!

wedding block

A wedding block for a gift for Carey Leigh & Jody from Dara (thanks, Dara)!!

dining room

can't let go of the yellow decor from Ruthie's party. btw, i found those white skinny glass candles at the dollar tree. I have about 10 of them now. they remind me of the traditional catholic prayer candles.

NEED to tell you about my IKEA dining room chairs. Very proud of my $19 chairs. They came unfinished. I did a white-wash stain thing on them & polyeurethaned them.

Okay, first visit to IKEA for my mom, polly & me in Dallas. I thought we were going to pass out from all the excitement. I get it now. Such a smart store, the efficiency, the design, the prices, the thought given to EVERYTHING.  I overheard mama telling all her friends about her IKEA trip for days after our trip.

bathroom update

BEFORE

 full disclosure: this was the WAY before picture, like before we moved in the house. but this provides the most impact.

 

AFTER

REDO steps:
-painted wallpaper CORNBREAD (by Martha Stewart) after Ruthie's sunshine party
-replaced big wall mirror with 2 gold leaf mismatched antique mirrors (spray painted silver with touches of brush applied champagne metallic paint).
-got the S & T (sarah & tim) vintage metal letters from this etsy store.
-closed up the flourescent light box with a foam board panel covered by Home Depot ceiling tile/like wallpaper. (friend bridget introduced me to this awhile back)
-switched towel hooks for some sale bin anthropologie ones
-spray painted the hinges & pulls & switched out the faucets

Yellow is slowly creeping over the house. I can't stop.