Tuesday, May 31, 2011

what's for dinner?

We had a full and eventful Memorial week-end!! It was nice spending some of it at home with family, working on a few projects, and then yesterday going on a hike.

One crafty project I've wanted to do for awhile is to make a menu board. I had seen one on pinterest and couldn't wait to make one like it. It called for a magnetic board, but after searching at quite a few places for the right size and not being able to find it, I went with a canvas board. Instead of using magnets, I used velcro. It worked, and I really like how it turned out. I think my kiddos were as excited as me since they are always wondering "what's for dinner?"

I used the prettiest papers from October Afternoon, called The Thrift Shop, and Fly a Kite. I use to do quite a bit of scrapbooking when my girls were little, and it was sure fun working with paper again!! It really gave me the scrapbooking bug, so I might need to pull out my supplies again!!



For Memorial day we hiked almost 10 miles. We went to green mountain, and made it to the summit!! The little ones did so well and it was mainly me trying to keep up with them. :) I love seeing my little ones in nature! It was such an enjoyable day, and we can't wait to go on many more this season!!

At the start of the hike!

The view of Seattle from the summit!

Brothers walking and chatting! They were having quite the conversation about dragons!!

A picnic lunch at the summit!


A few more pictures of our day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week-end and also enjoyed Memorial Day!


Friday, May 27, 2011

mirror, mirror on the wall!

I just love fairytales, and pretty mirrors!! Another fun and pretty vintage up-cycle we did lately was a lovely ornate mirror. I had also found this at the thrift store the same day I found the stool we covered with the Riley Blake laminate. It was a vintage mirror attached to a medicine cabinet, but since we don't have need for a new medicine cabinet at this time (maybe in the future, so we saved that part), we took that off, and sanded and painted the mirror a lovely robins egg, aqua!! I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!! It is already hanging in our living room!

I had a little fun taking pictures of it outside!! The background you get with it, on a sunny spring day is really lovely!!

Pretty flowers, and puffy clouds!!


my little red riding hood converse!!


Now onto the winner of the May Day giveaway!! I'm sure you can't wait to hear who won those lovely laminates!! The winner is #459, Patty!! Yeah, Patty!!

Patty said...

my favorite part of spring are the flowers and seeing the grass turn green...

Make sure to email me with your addy and I'll get them in the mail to you. :)


Thanks so much to everyone who entered!! It was so fun reading all your comments about what you love most about Spring! I hope you have a wonderful Memorial week-end!!

Monday, May 23, 2011

may day giveaway!


May is one of my favorite months in Washington. All the trees are blossoming, the sun is out often, there is a bit of a cool breeze in the air and all the grass is green!! To top it off, every year there is the May Day giveaway from Sew, Mama, Sew!! This is my third year participating and it seems like every year gets better!! I can't wait to browse all the lovely blogs!!

This year I'll be giving away some lovely Sugar and Spice laminate from Riley Blake. This week-end we up-cycled a vintage stool that I had found at a thrift store and for the cushion, we covered it with the red floral laminate!! I just love how you can wipe all those little dirty smudges from the wee ones!! Easy as one, two, three!!

The pretty laminates~

Four half yards~ sugar main, sugar floral, red and aqua polka dots and white and red polka dots!!

The oh, so pretty upcycled stool~

I love how the step stool turns up into the stool!! For the steps, we first painted them aqua and then covered them with foil and painted the rest!! A lovely tip I found on pinterest!!

The stool before it got a little face lift!!

There are many other creative things you could do with laminate, such as making a pretty tote bag, or cover table tops. You could also use it for making aprons, diaper bags, or for covering chairs!!


So...would you like to win some lovely laminate!?! Here is all you have to do~

The giveaway will be open till Thursday May 26th, and I'll announce the giveaway winner soon after!

You have 3 chances to win.

1. Tell me your favorite thing about Spring!
2. Have commented on my blog before
3. Are a follower of my blog

Make sure to leave a separate comment for all the ones you qualify for. I'll be using random.org to pick the winners so if you don't leave a comment for the ones you qualify for you will only get one chance instead of up to three.

Good Luck, and Happy Monday!!!


Monday, May 16, 2011

the isabella doll & quilt!!

Last week I was able to finish up the sweet quilt for Isabella. I'm so happy with the way it turned out, and it was so nice to wrap it up and finally be able to give it. Thanks so much for all the sweet comments on my previous post and letting me know I'm not the only one that has taken so long to finish a quilt. :) It sure makes it that much more exciting when it is done and you are able to gift it!!

Here it is in all it's happy glory!!


For the binding I used Leciens white pin dots on pink!! It almost looks like a solid from a distance.


For the backing I used Tanya Whelans, Picnic Rose in blush.


All wrapped up in pretty Sandi Henderson's, Meadow Sweet, Daisy Path in blush!


I had to include this oh so cute picture of Isabella!! Doesn't she look so adorable!! My sister in law, Katrina, made her the cute little tutu and head band!!


On Friday, I made this sweet little doll for Isabella!! I have so much fun making them and just couldn't resist whipping one out!


For the apron, I used a vintage handkerchief again!! I think this is a new favorite for aprons!! It adds such a sweet simple touch that I just love!!


She was inspired by this sweet doll I had seen on Pinterest!


Isabella was so sweet and kept giving the doll kisses after she opened her!! :)


Happy Monday to all my sweet friends!! See ya soon!! ;)



Tuesday, May 10, 2011

vintage shabby geese!



Do you remember this post? Where I was inspired by all these lovely things I've been pinning on pinterest. I'm so excited as now I've got one thing to mark off my long list of things to make, the sweet vintage inspired flying geese quilt.

Here is the lovely quilt that inspired me, and just was soo itching to make...

but with these pretty colors...

and these...

and using fabrics with pretty flowers and polka dots.

It was a fun way how my inspiration came for this quilt, and really love the way the quilt turned out!!

For the binding I used the FABULOUS tutorial I also saw on pinterest!! I really wanted to try the tutorial before I did the binding on sweet Isabella's quilt.

It is such a fun little quilt and I made it to fit perfectly on our ottoman!! It adds that pretty spring touch to our living room!!


I hope everyone is having a terrific Tuesday!


Sunday, May 8, 2011

mother's day!



I hope all my mommy friends will have a beautiful day with their families on this Mother's Day!! I woke up bright and early today so I could have a little quiet time and ponder how blessed I am to be a Mother, and as equally blessed to have a wonderful Mother as an example.


Here is the most recent picture I have with my Mom!! She is the most loving and kindest person I know! She is always thinking of others before her self and would do anything for her loved ones. I remember when I was little how she would always take a day and surprise us by taking us out of school to take us out to lunch and spend the day together. Even with a large family she made it important to spend time with each of us and let us know we were special!

She is also the most amazing Grandma to my little ones and they absolutely adore her. I wish we lived much closer and that we were able to spend the day with her. Here are some pretty tulips just for you, Mom!! :) We miss you dearly and you are always in our thoughts!!

(picture from pinterest)

I hope everyone has a happy Mother's Day!! I'm off to get ready for the day before all the kiddos wake up. :)



Wednesday, May 4, 2011

wip~ finally quilting the top!!


Do you remember this quilt? Don't feel bad if you don't, as it was a long time ago I put it together. I should say a really long time ago, pretty much a year ago. I made it for my sweet soon to be niece, that is going to be one next week!! I'm a little embarrassed it has taken me this long to get it sandwiched and to finally start to quilt it!! Especially, since that is my favorite part, stippling!! Here are a few pictures of my process on quilting the top!!


I absolutely LOVE this process!! Watching it transform!!


A couple close-ups of my favorite blocks!! I just LOVE these Japanese fabrics!!


I'm so excited as the stippling should be done today, as I only have a little left. Then the binding, and it will be done by the time Isabella turns one!! Better late then never, right?? Please tell me I'm not the only one that has taken this long to finish a quilt. :)

Now back to finish the quilting!