Simple Pleasures

Simple Pleasures

The first cuttings of Spring!!! 

My lilac bush has blossomed...

So simple, beautiful and fragrant. 

Thanks for letting me share. 

Celebration Weekend!

Warning...
This post is about my kiddos.  My bragg blog post.

If you find it boring to hear about other peoples kids, you have been warned. 

So, I have two girls.  Of course they are drastically different.  Shannon is 15 now, and Kassidy is 11 now.  They are 4 years apart.  We have good and bad days.  Some days the fighting will drive me nuts!  However, their birthdays are 9 DAYS apart.  

 In the past it was working to have celebrate their birthdays together.  But, all good things must come to an end...

This year, got a little tricky with it being Easter weekend and all.

The younger one HAD to have a sleepover.  ( I don't know why they call it that.  They should call it the stay awake all nighter til your eyes burn!)  Anywhoo...

 Here is my Kassidy...

Kassidy at 5 yrs. old

Kassidy has turned into a beautiful, fun-loving, orderly,  and smart (too smart most times) 11 yr old.

Party #1

Kassidy's 11th Birthday  

True to Kassidy's nature, here is a request I recieved for the party goods, via the fridge...

The cake...

I saw this cake online and downsized it for the party.  I used a small mixing bowl from pampered chef for the large cupcake.  I used chocolate icing for the look of the wrapper.  I used half the batter for the large cupcake and had enough for 12 reg. cupcakes.  

The cake was chocolate with peanut butter icing.  Kassidy likes darker colors.

The Birthday girl!!!

Birthday #2...

Meet Shannon.  Known as "Spunky" in her younger years, and "Nay Nay" now as we like to affectionately call her.

Shannon at age 8

Where has the time gone?  15?  Really?

Shannon, is our friendly, outgoing, energetic, (Dramatic) 15 year old now.

Loves theatre and hanging with friends.  She has been in 5 musicals, the girl loves to sing!

The cake...

Shannon loves cows...

I also saw this cake online...thought it would be perfect.   She loved it.  

Did I mention her party was a SURPRISE?!  She was truly surpised, because true to her nature, (and mine)  we were still in the works about planning her party which was in a few days....lol

The friends.... good secret keepers

These days with my girls are going fast!  If you have kids you know.  I try to cherish every day I have with them.  I try to remember this on the bad days.  They are truly a precious gift from God.

Watching Barney at Universal Studios.  Shannon 7, Kassidy 3.

My most favorite picture of my babies.

My Ambitious Friend...

I love this post from my friend Kendra, over at Creative Ambitions.

I love reading her posts.  She is ALWAYS creative and sometimes Very Ambitious...this is one of those times.  I want to make one of these soon....maybe this summer????

Ok… so this is probably random…but yes… I made a decorative dress form.

Why?

Because I’m crazy like that…

I have one of those minds that tell me…

“you can make that”

My creative ambition is an endless battle… so I just go with it…

And here is how I did it…

First… I started out with one of these…

You have to have some sort of mold to try this.

I wrapped it in saran wrap.

  At this point, you’ll need cardboard, newspaper and glue.

(I used wallpaper glue and at times… elmer’s glue)

I glued lightweight, wet/soaked card board to it at first to give it a sturdy shape.

Then, I glued strips of newspaper all over the cardboard.

It will look something like this…

(this is the first one I made… it still looks like this)

And the second one I made…

I let it sit for a couple of days to dry.

Next, I took my scissors and cut a straight line up the back.

NOW…

Here is where you need to use your imagination…

I didn’t take pictures of the whole back cutting/seam taping process… sorry!

Bad… I know!  

Anywho…

I took the paper shell off the form.

Then, I taped the seam up with some kind of cloth tape we had laying around the house.

After I had her taped back up… I glued some more newspaper over the taped seam.

For the bottom and top of neck… I cut out foam core, doubled it up, and hot glued it in place.

You may even have to hot glue some of the inner cardboard pieces back down.

Now, here was the fun part… I ordered this…

It’s a paper-mache/clay mixture.

Sooo…

I mixed it with water and applied it to my paper shell …with my fingers…VERY MESSY.

In fact… you may want a mask… (glue and pulp dust flies in the air as you are mixing)

I put it on thick so it had to sit awhile (out in the sun) for a few days to dry.

Next, I sanded… again…VERY MESSY.

I used my hair dyer to blow the dust off of her.

Then, I skimmed it with joint compound to try and smooth out the surface some.

And… sanded again.   Blew the dust off again.

And now she was ready to decoupage.

 Here we go AGAIN with lack of pictures…

I didn’t know if this would even turn out so I didn’t take pics for all the steps.

Finally, I glued pieces of scrapbook paper all over the form.

Eerrrrrrrr…. stop the car… back up…

Ok… so, are you wondering about a base… maybe???

This is still a work in progress… but here is the gist of it…

Table leg from my local ReStore.  Wood plaque from Hobby Lobby.

Drilled a hole for the table leg to fit in, gorilla glued it and painted it black.

Then I cut a hole with my jigsaw in the bottom of the form to slide down the base.

And that’s as far as I’ve gotten with that.  Trying to figure out how to secure it to the base so it’s not wobbly.

Almost there…

But in the meantime, here she is in her decoupaged glory.

I used a French Toile theme.

I think she looks…very “Boutiquey”.

Soooo…

The modeling paper clay says you can nail in to it?  I don’t know… too scared to try.

Maybe… I will try on the next one before I decoupage it.

Ok… one more time…

sporting a ruffled cross body purse I have been working on!

I must say… making her was a messy and lengthy process but if you have the patience…

it can be a fun project.

Spring Mantel...Finally!

I have been pondering and getting excited about putting together a spring mantel.  I am supposed to be vacuuming...ummm, but my mantel looks perdy now...lol.  Ok, I am planning on vacuuming now that it's done. (maybe).  Anyway, here is what I came up with...wait, before I show you, you have to know I have been HUGELY inspired by all my blog friends.

So, here's the breakdown on how it all came together:  I knew I wanted to use the bird cages and of course my little nest. 

Proof that I did not eat the chocolate malt eggs!

 The hanging backdrop was an idea I had after seeing a window dressing at King of Prussia. They had strips of multicolor cloth hanging from the ceiling behind their clothes and stuff.  It was Free People Clothing boutique.  Very cool.

I tore strips out of fabric I had in the attic, then tied them to a stick my daughter brought home from the lake last year.  It was in the garage, it was perfect.

Also, I finally have a chance to used the little balls I made out of seed pods from my Rose of Sharon bushes.

  Lastly, this little doodad was something I picked up at Goodwill.  It is a candle holder that attaches to a bigger piece of furniture.  I knew it would come in handy somewhere.  

before...

What did I do with my cute little door you ask?  I just moved it!

See? ...re purposed.

Happy Sring!

An Old Mirror gets a New Look

I have an old mirror that a friend gave me hanging in my foyer.  I love the mirror, I just wanted to brighten it up and give it a new look.  

Well, today was the day.  Sorry, I forgot to take a before pic with it hanging up.  It was too heavy to put back up for a pic.

Here is before...

I started by lightly sanding it all.  Then I painted it white.

Next, I cut strips out of some burlap I had leftover from a Thanksgiving project. 

(I'm starting to love burlap... is that weird?  It's so useful)

I used Modge Podge to adhere the strips to the mirror

                                    

Tah Dah....

I love the new fresh look!