Thursday, January 26, 2012

Go Visit This Blog...

My Old Kentucky Home

Yes, that is ME KariAnne is talking about!!! She just made my day!!!

KariAnne is my hand-waving, fellow country club member, Book Club member, Girl Scout momma, expert decorator and crafter friend!

My daughter is always making up songs. She made up one recently about a purple pineapple, it has become her signature song, just ask her friends. I made a canvas using KariAnne's technique for her room.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Progress!

I'm so excited...my dream of lockers in my laundry/back hallway is finally coming true...

The bench and lockers are installed, now to paint, install coat hooks and organize! Sorry for the "low light" pictures.


Will share pictures as more progress happens!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

American Girl Craft Party

Olivia and most of her friends have an American Girl doll. They love to dress them up and take them places. So, Olivia wanted to have her 9th birthday (oh my) be an American Girl party...we decided to throw in crafts for the dolls as well.

We did some "research" at two of our favorite stores....Michael's and Hobby Lobby. We came up with four crafts for the girls to make for their dolls...clay food, felt headbands, little bags and little treasure chests. Molly & Emily are modeling their new gifts for you.

We found the supplies for the clay food at Hobby Lobby. Olivia taught them each how to make a doughnut and a peanut butter cookie. We popped them in the oven to set while we went onto the next craft.

Felt headbands. We found a kit at Michael's in the American Girl section to make felt pins. Instead of making pins,we used the felt supplies with ponytail holders to create headbands for the dolls by layering the felt pieces. I do not have any pictures of this activity, as I was the only adult and was pretty busy gluing the creations together! As I was gluing, the girls "introduced" their dolls to each other, too cute!
Next, we stopped for lunch....peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, chips & fruit.


Then it was on to decorating our totes for the dolls. We found this kit at Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon! It came with one tote which we used for a trial run. We found additional tote sets at Hobby Lobby as well. We simply cut out all of the iron on pieces and let the girls arrange them on their tote bag. I ironed them on for the girls.


Our last activity was to decorate "treasure trunks" from the $1 bin at Michael's. The girls used Sharpies and jewels to decorate their boxes. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of the trunks...I wonder...

The whole time the girls were making things for their dolls, they were whispering. As the dolls were having their own little party close by.

After all the crafting, it was finally time for cake & ice cream. A sweet neighbor is making delicious and gorgeous cakes, so we ordered a strawberry one and left the design up to her imagination. It turned out better than we dreamed! Olivia was thrilled!

Each of the dolls also got a "cake". The girls took them home to have later. I put them in clear plastic cups for safe traveling.

When Olivia and I were shopping for the party, we picked up a pack of the American Girl crafting/scrapbooking paper for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. We used this pack for lots of things....party hats, place mats, napkin rings...for the dolls. For the girls, we made place mats, place cards and napkin rings. The colors and prints were great! We've got a ton left over for more crafts.

Happy Birthday, sweet Olivia! Thanks to all of her friends for making this a wonderful birthday!
Todays Creative Blog
Whipperberry

Friday, January 20, 2012

What does 2012 hold?

A dear friend of mind gave me the coolest idea from Pinterest.
Our goal is to fill this big ol' jar with wonderful memories from 2012! Let the memories begin!


Saturday, January 14, 2012

Lilly Pulitzer Project

My sister, Paige, and I adore Lilly Pulitzer clothes. The problem is we're a big too frugal to purchase them new! We scour the coolest 2nd hand shops in St. Louis (Scholarshops) each Spring and can only find the cute skirts in size 2 or 4, NOT happening!

I got the idea to get some Lilly fabric and make some cool things for my sis for Christmas. I looked over the internet, found some neat fabric, but the urge never hit me to actually follow through with placing an order. Then I got the idea to have Paige purchase a slightly used skirt, no matter what the size. She admitted she felt a little weird buying this size 2, even if it was just $12!

I loved the colors and the different options the skirt presented me with. I quickly made a list of all the different options I had....jewerly, decorated frame, mouse pad....

I finally ended up making a bracelet, using squares of the fabric and mod podge. I also made pendants with Diamond Glaze and a glass square. Last, I made a couple of
pony tail holders by making covered buttons and slipping them on blank pony tail holders. I gave them to Paige for Christmas.
I only used about 1/2 the material and want to make some things for myself and Olivia. I figure if you can't buy a Lilly dress, you can dress up what you do have with a few Lilly accessories!

Todays Creative Blog
Tip Junkie handmade projects

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Happy 2012!

Well, Christmas came and went without a new post from me. We had a fabulous time, celebrating Christ's birth with family! Now we are in the new year and everyone seems to have the "clean and update your house" bug!

We have a few goals at our house right now...

1. Hang a shelf in Daniel's room that has been sitting in his closet for YEARS! (Done, yesterday!)

2. The shop class is building a locker type storage system for my mudroom/back entry way. Can't wait to get it painted and put in place.

3. I got a beautiful new comforter at Dillard's New Year's Day Sale! My awesome cousin is coming this weekend to paint my master bedroom and bathroom, which is way overdue!

4. Huge goal...we have a bonus room upstairs...craft & hunting storage, extra tv, computer area, Jeff's desk, etc. I want to get someone to build a wall to separate it into two areas. We also have attic space that we need access to...hoping someone can build me a door up there and finish off some much needed storage space!

Whew...lots of goals. Little by little it will get done!

5. I need to post some of the gifts I made for Christmas!

Happy 2012!

Thistlewood Farm