Letter hunt!

This morning we were having a little fun with letters. To get the kids moving I had them try to make letter shapes out of their bodies. They had lots of fun stretching, rolling, bending and twisting into shapes.

Then Lil A jumped up and yelled "Letter hunt!" My Big D happened to have a Smurf tshirt on and she used her "pointer" (a found feather) to point at the letters and try to name them. Big was very happy to help, even if he didn't always give Lil time to think of a letter before he named it for her. :) I love watching them help each other learn things.

After naming the letters on his shirt, Lil found my husbands baseball jersey (Go Tigers!) on top of the freshly folded clothes. No worries! We laid it out and she pointed out new letters as well as the numbers. She was so proud of the letters she knew and had such a serious little face as she was trying to learn the letters she didn't know.

I love those little unexpected moments of learning! Now it's time to refold the shirt and find some new adventures!

Vintage finds

I am becoming a thrift store junky. It starts innocently enough...I thought that some little glass sundae cups would be a perfect way to add a little pizzaz to some simple sundaes for the kids this weekend. So on the way to the grocery store I made a quick stop at the local St. Vincent de Paul and headed straight to the glasswear shelves. Searching through, I find these little juice glasses:

Aren't they cute? Into the basket they went. But no luck on sundae cups. So I head down aisle full of household goods, just in case. Plus, I might find some vintage Pyrex or milk glass, right? Nope, but my daughter did find this:

A little girl with a kitten? Of course she loved it. :)

Then I found this:

Swoon!

A few weeks ago I saw a gorgeous tufted chair, but the burnt orange color just didn't work. This one however, will work great in my living room! I should have stopped there...really I should have. But then I found this:

Now let me explain about the living room. It is a collection of random furniture from all over. We have black leather couches from my husbands bachelor days, a small dining room table from my single days, a piano, rug, and lamp from hubbys parents, and a set of stacking tables that used to belong to hubby's grandpa. Throw in a couple of mismatched bookshelves and it's a room that has no cohesion and generally drives me crazy. But it's also the kids playroom, so I try to let it go. The rug can get animal crackers accidently ground into it, the couches wipe down easily and can handle their fort building, tv watching, and anything else they can throw at them.

But I hope that slowly we can start to transform this room into something bright, cheerful and still comfortable. This little table will replace one of the stacking tables. I'm thinking of painting it, but not anytime soon. There are other projects to work on (like the marble topped table that I haven't had time to tackle yet).

So I went to the store to pick up the chair, because I didn't have our bigger car to take it this weekend. I just should wait outside! lol

Because I found these:

They didn't have a price so I asked the sales clerk. She looked at them and said, "How about $5 for all of them?" Sold! I love them, even if its a completely mismatched number. 5 cups, 7 saucers and 6 bread & butter plates. But the pattern is great and I loved the shape of the cups. I'm really picky about teacup shapes, it's just a thing. :)

I've done a little research on the pattern. It's by the Homer Laughlin Company and the code on the bottom indicates it was made in 1955. It doesn't have a cool pattern name, but I eventually found the pattern number after more digging than I expected. I checked everywhere I could but no one online seems to have replacement pieces in stock. I'll have to keep looking, because I would love to even out the set.

Finally I found two wire chairs...nothing fancy but I think I'll spraypaint them in a bright color and use them in the yard.

So, needless to say I had a LOT of fun at the thrift store. :) It's becoming dangerous territory for me! lol What are some of your favorite thrift store finds?

Have a great day!

Mini album

Last week I worked on a project that I hoped to submit for an iamroses.com open Design Team call. I was ready to submit it and then realized I had missed the deadline, because I was an idiot and misunderstood that 9/12 midnight wasn't the end of the day on 9/12. Duh! Oh well, I guess it's just a sign that it wasn't meant to be at this time. :)
But I wanted to share the project I made. It's an accordian mini album held inside an old Stampin Up tin that I have been hoarding for a while. I used white cardstock to build the base and layered the cardstock with patterned paper from the Butterfly Garden collection by Pink Paislee. It's such a soft, romantic collection.
The inside is very simple at the moment. Until I add the photos, at which point I'll finsih with embellishments. They will need to be mostly 2 dimensional since the tin will still need to be able to close.
The cover is decorated with a few I Am Roses blossoms. I only have white flowers so I used some Glimmer Mist to add a bit of color. Since they are made from mulberry paper they absorb color very easily. I then used some gold paint on the tips of the blossoms for a little more sparkle. The skeleton leaves were dyed with a mixture of Glimmer Mists and Starburst Sprays to an olive green color. They shimmer so beautifully! I had a silver butterfly charm that I changed to a copper color using alcohol inks and added a Tim Holtz Adage Ticket that was edged using Distress Inks.
I hope you enjoy this project! Stay tuned for more!

Can I breathe yet???

I have been trying to sit down and write a post for days. But so much has been happening that it's just a whirl. :) Nothing you haven't experienced for yourself I'm sure! But now, the day is done, the kids are in bed and I have a few moments of silence & a purring kitty on my lap to sit and write a few words.

Firstly: Working, working, working. Nothing new there, I'll spare you the details. I have done a bit of crafting also, but will post about that hopefully tomorrow.
After work on Labor Day, my parents invited us over for a BBQ. YUM! Chicken, ribs, corn, salads, veggies, all the usual delicious fixins. I brought desert in the form of two pencil shaped cakes. It was just a simple boxed caked but in half after it was baked and the end trimmed into a point. Then frosting...as you can see, nothing very fancy, but it did taste yummy! :) You can see that the kids are in warmer clothes...we got a bit of a cooling down so it was a bit chilly that day! Fall already?

On Tuesday my son started 1st grade...goodness how is that possible??? He was so very excited to meet his teacher, see his friends from last year and make new friends.

The PTO members held a Boohoo Yahoo breakfast for the Kindergarten parents and after the kids were all dropped off in their classes had a nice gathering in the library. It amazes me how my customer service trianing comes in handy all the time, especially when I have to talk to complete strangers, which I actually hate to do. But it all went well (AV glitches aside).
Fast forward through a week of school, work, soccer practise, karate, & art of dance classes for my daughter and then the first soccer game of the season for my son. It was a miserable rainy morning for the game, and he was drenched but loved it. At least it wasn't cold, but I learned that we have a few layering items to pick up tomorrow for this Saturdays game. And to bring a towel! lol His team won and he was so happy!

Sunday was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. To this day I can't talk or watch footage about it without crying. I wasn't in New York or Washington DC at the time, I was living in Charleston, SC. I was driving to work on a beautiful Tuesday morning when the news came over the radio. And that was when our world changed. I watched the speeches and dedication broadcasted live from New York and by the end of it I was so emotionally tired. I had planned to go to the ceremony being held at The Henry Ford Museum later that day, but I just couldn't. I just wanted some peace at home with my family.

This past Tuesday my daughter started Preschool. She was so excited! She wore a little yellow vintage dress I found on Etsy and brand new mary janes after I realized that she didnt have any dressy shoes that fit! I didn't think the purple/pink crocs or sparkly tennis shoes would go with the dress...lol Thank goodness Target opens at 8am, so we went as soon as we dropped her brother off at school. Once we got to preschool and she hung up her bag, she settled right in to her table and, smiling all around, started playing with her Playdough. She looked up at me, still smiling, and asked "Are you going yet Mommy?" LOL She was all set and very confident that this was going to be a great day. So after a couple of hugs & kisses for me off to work I went. When I picked her up at the end of the day she was smiling just as blissfully and told me all about her wonderful day.

Today she was back at school and since I had the day off, it was the first time ever that I had a few daytime hours alone without the kids being with my husband or with a family member. They were both in school! Then the frantic thought, what is pressing that needs to be done without kids around??? A nap came to mind (hee hee) but perhaps next time. Instead I scrubbed the kitchen floor and looked over the marble topped cabinet I brought home from the thrift store a while ago. I pulled out the old peeling faux grain contact paper but didn't have time for more than that. There is some old paint inside, but I think I can strip it off. I'm still debating painting it, but I really want the marble top to stand out, so I may just restain or wax the wood instead. What do you think?
I have tomorrow off also, and will have the full day home with my daughter. I do love those moments...the peaceful one-on-one time with my kids.
How has your week been?

Making Hair Bows

Lil A loves hair bows. Funny thing is, she doesn't always like to keep them in her hair. Maybe because she is part Tomboy, maybe because her hair is fine and they usually slip down at some point. But I was looking at some pictures of hair bows online and when she came into the room got so excited and asked if I would make some for her. How can I refuse?
She got a bit tired of modeling for me...lol

I made 2 yesterday. The first one was a basic boutique bow using some ribbon I had found in the clearance bin at Michaels ages ago. I lined the clip and wrapped the top of the bow with some polka dot grosgrain ribbon from Stampin Up.
The second is made from some of the vintage trim I got last week. I created two basic bows and stacked them on top of each other. I lined the clip and covered the center with some satin ribbon. Unfortunately I didn't have plain red ribbon so I had to get a bit creative. The ribbon I used is a holiday ribbon with snowflakes printed on one side. I just flipped it over to hide the print, and ta-da!
The clips are silver double pronged clips that I found at Sallys...100 for just over $5.00? That's a great deal! I could have enough to make bown for her prom! (Mommy's just kidding sweetie, unless you want me to make you hair bows for prom! We'll talk about it in 13 years or so.)
To solve to problem of slippage I did a little research. Lots of folks use the non-slip shelf liner or the fuzzy side of hook & loop tape and I even found information on using silicone inside the clip. In the end I decided to use velvet. I just happened to have velvet ribbon on hand after my trip to the thrift store. It works great! Even when she shakes her head the clip stays in place, but if she does pull it out it is gentle enough on her hair.
All in all they turned out pretty cute! I have so much more ribbon to use, and these use so little that it doesn't make much of a dent in my stash, but it's a fun project to while away a bit of time. And I must say, Lil does look pretty adorable!