A cake and some giveaways

My little friend Chandler is having his 2nd Birthday party today. His mom asked me to make his cake. I am not a cake decorator by any means, but my mom is a professional one. So my whole life I have watched her make thousands of cakes. I know a few tricks of the trade so I often get asked to make them. Chandler loves Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go. This is what I came up with for him. I know he is going to love it-I can't wait to see his face when he see's it!! Happy 2nd Birthday Chandler!

There are some fabulous giveaways going on right now. You have to check them out.

The first one is a super cute pillow on A Gathering of Thoughts

It is a Brundage Baby & Girl Christmas Cottage Pillow...I want to win it!

The next giveaway is an embellished bottle at TeaCupStitches

It is a Brundage Girl too and I want to win it too!

And there is a great giveaway at Bluebird Notes

Enter to win a fabulous Rusted Chain gift certificate...can I win this one too?!

All of these fantastic giveaways make me want to do one of my own. I will have to figure out what it will be, but I promise to have a great one soon!

Go check out these amazing giveaways and good luck!!

Nesting...sort of!

I saw these super cute wall plaques here and loved them! But I didn't love them enough to pay $40 for them. However, I knew that I could make them myself, and that is just what I did!

I went to the thrift store and found some frames of different sizes. I think this frame was $.75-so far, so good. I went to Michael's and found paper that I liked. The original has sheet music, but I couldn't find any paper with that and I didn't have time to go find some vintage stuff either, so I found some paper that I liked for $.41 for a 12 x 12 piece.


I took the glass and backing out and painted the frames (the smaller one was $.50) a brown color. Your paint job doesn't have to be perfect, so don't fret!

Then I took the backing of the frames and cut out pieces of paper to fit them. Then I glued the paper onto the cardboard backing.

After the brown paint was dry, I took a wet paint brush and painted on a robin egg blue color. Again, you don't have to paint these perfectly. By the way, I already had all the paint colors, so that didn't cost me a thing.

While I was waiting for the paint to dry, I made some nests. There were little twig nests at Michaels, but they wanted $1.99 for one. I found this mossy twig stuff next to the spanish moss. It doesn't have a name on the bag and it only cost $3.99 for the whole bag which will last me another 20 or so nests! I just shaped it into a nest, with a small indent in the middle like a real nest would look.

I was not able to find little fake eggs at Michaels, but I did find some half wood eggs in the wood section. I painted them the same color as the top coat on the frame then speckled them with the same brown as the first coat on the frame. You can kind of see them in the background of the picture above.


I had some aqua ribbon that was a little too bright for this, so I soaked it in a little coffee grounds to get a more aged look to it.

After the paint was dry, I sanded the frames all over and glued the cardboard backs into the frames. I then hot glued the nest to the middle of the covered cardboard and glued the eggs into the middle of the nest. I tied the ribbon into a bow and hot glued that onto the frame. Here's how they turned out...what do you think?

The total cost of this project was less than $2! Definitely beats $40! I am pretty excited about how they turned out and think I will be making more in all different sizes and colors too.

Have a good night!

An award? For me?

Wow! I can't believe someone bestowed a blog award upon me. I only have 5 followers (5 of the best followers I might add) so I never expected to receive an award! Thank you so much to Marty over at Barefoot & Pony-tailed for the shout out! I greatly appreciate it! So I have to share 7 things with you about myself...easier said than done, but here it goes anyway!

1. I am afraid of a lot of things-especially frogs, all birds, mice, pretty much any creature with beady little eyes. Just the thought of them gives me the heebie-jeebies!

2. I never want to see a ghost. I am absolutely fascinated by stories of other peoples encounters with them, but I would probably have a heart attack f I came face to face with one.



3. I was a welder in high school-better than all the boys too. I wish I could do it again because I really loved it. I even rebuilt a lawn mower engine-GIRL POWER!



4. I have a few OCD traits. For instance, the volume on my TV or stereo has to be on a multiple of 5 or it drives me nuts. And I have to take a towel from the bottom of the pile, never from the top. I know, I am crazy!



5. I was the queen of my town back in high school. Apple Blossom Queen that is. I had a tiara, a sash and a robe. I was in every parade for miles around and was a local celebrity. The best part was when little girls would ask me for my autograph!



6. I almost moved to Iowa after college. I would have been a dairy farmer's wife. I am pretty sure I would have been miserable that far from home and I definitely believe that things happen for a reason and the way they are supposed to.



7. My husband and I are complete opposites. For instance, he has more tattoos than you can count and I never want one. But we are so perfect for each other. Opposites attract, and that is definitely us, I wouldn't have it any other way!



So there's 7 random things about me. I like random, I am the queen of random. I always have some random fact or tidbit about something, so this is perfect for me!



Here are 7 of my favorite blogs...



Shabby in Suburbia
Laughing with Angels

My Blonde Ambitions

The Tattered Cottage

Vintage Susie & Wings

The Painted Hive

The Cedar Shingled Barn

Check them out!

Thanks for stopping by my blog, it makes me feel so special to know that someone is reading, looking and interested in what I am up to!!

My new bench

I have been wanting a bench made out of an old headboard for a long time. My nephew got a bigger bed and was just going to throw out this twin head and foot board. I snatched it up and it sat in the garage for awhile. I came home one day and my husband had this bench made for me. I just have to paint it and it will be complete. I will of course post pictures from start to finish when it is all done, but I just had to show you this picture of my handsome husband on his newly completed bench. He is one amazing man-talented and wonderful-how did I get so lucky?!

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

I am not vain, but I do like mirrors. I have always heard that they can make a small room look bigger, and my house is very small, so I will do what I can to make it seem bigger. Here are a few of my favorite ones!

I got this mirror at Hobby Lobby. I love the round shape and the beveled edge mirror. The frame has many different textures that make it look very shabby.

This mirror was left in the closet when we bought this house. It was black with a weird crow and elephant looking pattern on it-ugly! A little painting was all this mirror needed to look great! I love the embossed detail on the frame!

Would you believe that these silver mirrors are from the dollar store? I love the tarnished look of the ornate frames. They go perfectly in my master bathroom.

These cute little etched mirrors have hooks on them. I got them at my wedding shower. I thought they were so pretty but wasn't sure what to do with them. I have this tiny little piece of wall between my bathroom and my closet in my bedroom-the perfect spot to hang these mirrors. I use the hooks to display my wedding veil, tiara and one of the diamond squares that was on my cake.

Who's the fairest of them all?

One project down...

So many more to go! I was so excited to get this cabinet done and I did it! It turned out better than I had imagined-I LOVE IT!!

Here is the rose swag that I made with my bread dough. I let them dry and then spray painted them white. I attached them with hot glue-don't know how long it will last, but like I said, I was excited and wanted to get it done!

This sweet little bud is on the very bottom.

Close up of the roses, leaves and scrolls.


Full view...I still haven't decided where to put it yet so for now it is in the garage...please excuse the messy background!

Love, love, love it! I am making some for my bread box now...can't wait for that to be done next!

Did you try to make bread dough roses? I would love to see how they turned out!

Bread Dough Roses

When I was younger, I would watch Aleene's Creative Living every morning of my summer break. It was my favorite show, I would try to create the things they did and once in awhile I would send away for the projects that I really liked. My favorite project was the bread dough roses. I had everything I needed for that! I still like to make them and I thought they would be great for a few of my projects. Here is how you make them.

You start with one piece of white bread. It has to be white. Tear the bread into small pieces, either in a bowl or a cup.

Next, put in about a tablespoon of Tacky glue, I have used regular white school glue, but the original is the best. If a tablespoon isn't enough, add a little more. Then take a popsicle stick or a plastic knife and do your best to mix it all together. Once the glue has really soaked into the bread, you can use your hands to knead it into a smooth dough.
This is what it will look like when you are done kneading it. (Sorry for the blurry picture, my camera was not liking a few of these.)
This is where you would add color. A drop of acrylic paint until you get your desired color kneaded in does the trick.

Pinch off a small amount of the dough, roll it into a ball, flatten it with your fingers and the roll it into itself. You are mimicing a rose bud, so look at one if that helps.Keep adding petals to get your rose. You can add as many petals as you want until you get the desired look. Add them randomly, alternating sides. Again, look at a real rose to see the pattern. When you are done, they look like this.

I have a few different sizes, some buds, some leaves and some scrolls here. All of this was made with one piece of bread and some glue!

These will go on my new cabinet that I am working on and I plan on making some for my breadbox too. As soon as I am done painting the cabinet, I will put these on and take pictures for you to see. Happy Bread Dough Rose making to you!!

What a weekend!

I was busy this weekend, just as I had anticipated. I didn't get to do everything I had planned, but I still got quite a bit done. I cleaned the house, did laundry and got groceries-the unfun stuff. I also did some baking, some socializing and some painting. I didn't get to go to any yard sales, but that's okay, I spent too much money on groceries any way! These are brownie pillow cookies. They are called pillow cookies because you put a brownie in the center of the chocolate chip cookie and they look like little pillows. They were a big hit at my softball team's end of the season BBQ. I got the recipe for them here.
I also made these super yummy potato skins for appetizers. Don't ask me why I chose to do 2 things that took a lot of time, but they were well worth it!

My next big outing was to Ste Chapelle Winery for a little wine tasting Jimmy Buffett style. There were 6 of us girls that went and we ran into one more when we got there.

Top Row L-R: Meredith, Lisa, Kyla, Brooke
Bottom Row L-R: Jen, Kathy, Me

It was a hot July day at the winery-99 degrees I believe. Thank goodness there were lot's of trees to give us much needed shade!

The 6 of us girls were able to finish almost 4 bottles of wine-my favorite Soft Red, Cabernet Sauvignon and a new favorite Soft Rose.

It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon spent with the company of good friends. We plan on doing this more often!

I was even able to get a coat of paint on the cabinet. My husband says it looks pretty good as is, I haven't decided if it needs one more coat or not. I am going to make some bread dough roses for this, which I will show you later.

I wish this wonderful weekend didn't have to come to such a quick end, it was a great one...can't wait until next weekend!

Weekend Projects

I have a few projects that I hope I have enough time to work on this weekend. I have a super busy weekend planned, so it will be a small miracle if I get a chance to get to them. The first one is this old window I picked up for $2!! It has faux stained glass that is peeling off, but that isn't what I wanted it for anyway. I will probably peel off all of the faux stained glass and then try to come up with something super cute to go on the glass. There were 2 of these for sale-my mother in law got the other one so I am excited to see what she comes up with.

As much as I like the bright green color, I think I will have to paint it white. I might let a little of the green show through, but I will just have to see. I think my favorite part of this window is the latch. I wonder if the window my mother in law has is the other part to the latch-now I am going to have to check hers out!I found this cabinet on Craigslist for a steal. It is a weird red-orange color that I don't like, so it too will be painted white. I love the chicken wire on the front. I have so many ideas for this-paint the outside white with the inside of the shelves the same red color as my kitchen and find somewhere in my kitchen to put it. I think it would make a great recipe book shelf or it could hold other kitchen treasures. Or I could paint it white on the outside with the trim the same color as my bedroom walls or vise versa and put it in my bedroom. There are so many different things I could do! Or I could paint it and sell it too...

Excuse the background-the garage-this seems to be where all of our projects end up. I can think of at least 5 more waiting for me to finish right this second.


You may get to see after pictures of these two projects very soon, possibly this weekend. That is if I can find time between grocery shopping, our softball team BBQ, cleaning the house, doing laundry, planting more flowers, Wine Tasting Jimmy Buffett style at Ste Chapelle Winery, etc. etc. etc...oh-and don't forget I have to hit a few yard sales too!

Wish me luck or at least lot's of energy!

Cinderella Obsession

I have quite the Cinderella collection going on. I just love her! I think it all started when I was in the 8th grade and I played Cinderella in a school play. I love the story of this sweet, tenderhearted girl that secretly met her Prince Charming, lost her glass slipper and fell in love. I love her blue dress, her fairy godmother, and of course her shoes! Most people that don't know me think that I have a little girl when they see all of my Cinderella stuff. Nope-it is all mine!

This snowglobe was used as the topper to my wedding cake!

P.S. I designed my wedding cake and my wonderful mom baked it and decorated it. She's been making wedding cakes all my life-isn't she amazing!

Snowglobes, figurines, nesting dolls-anything Cinderalla-I want it!
I made this shelf a long time ago to house all my Cinderella stuff. I am to the point where I need another one...but my husband says I have way too much Cinderella stuff. I can't tell you the last thing I got that was Cinderella-sad.

Everyone expected me to have a "Cinderella Wedding". There were touches here and there-the cake topper, I wore "glass slippers", my husband & I danced to "So this is love", my dad & I danced to Steven Curtis Chapman's "Cinderella". Just a hint here and there. I really do love Cinderella. A dream is a wish your heart makes!

Another great giveaway

Check out Bluebird Notes to see the super cute cherry apron she is giving away!

http://bluebirdnotes.blogspot.com/2010/07/cherrieskindnessand-charming-giveaway.html


Good luck to all that enter!!

A photographer I am not

But I am trying to be better. I need to think more outside the box-try different angles, lighthing, groupings, etc. I admire those bloggers out there that take pictures like the pros for their blogs. So I have been practicing, trying to find what works and what doesn't. At this point, I don't have any photo editing software. Someday I will get some, just like someday, my blog will look as amazing as all the blogs that I follow do! A collection of Corona bottles all lined up.
My husband plans to use these as decorations in his back yard bar.

Chocolate cupcakes for my husband's birthday.

These juicy strawberries were made into the most delicious strawberry jam!

I will keep practicing because practice makes perfect!

Time for a giveaway

I haven't entered any giveaways yet-this is my first one. I hope I have good luck because all of this is beautiful...go check out French Larkspur to see it all!

French Larkspur
http://frenchlarkspur.blogspot.com/2010/07/one-year-blog-versary-giveaway.html