Finished side table

Chalk paint really is pretty neat. I quite enjoyed the process actually. I ended up putting 2 coats of Annie Sloan Old White paint onto the table top and legs because the dark was showing through too much. I left the underside with just one coat. Partially so I could compare and partially because I knew it wouldn't be seen. Yes, I am not a perfectionist. Hahaha
After the two coats had dried I took a piece of sand paper to the table top, sides, and legs just a little bit. I like the shabby look, but definitely not too shabby. After wiping up all of the ensuing dust I broke out the wax. I can't lie, this step was worrisome for me. How much to use? Was I putting it on right? Well, I went for a less is more sort of an attitude. I had watched several tutorials so I was somewhat prepared. You really do get a feel for it as you go. Once I put on the clear wax I opened the very dark dark wax. I used an Annie Sloan brush for the clear wax, but I didn't want it to get stained by the dark wax. So, I used a piece of cheesecloth to apply the dark wax. I think I'll look for a generic brush like the Annie Sloan brush for the dark wax for my next project. I definitely liked using the brush as opposed to the cheesecloth. I felt like wherever I touched the cheesecloth to the table after picking up some dark wax it left a mark that I couldn't blend in. It was a little odd. But, I forged ahead. I had heard that clear wax on top of the dark wax (which you want to do anyhow) could even out the dark wax. I didn't actually find that to be true for me. Maybe I didn't use enough wax in my initial application? I don't know.
Once the wax had cured and hardened I buffed it with another piece of cheesecloth. Don't skip the buffing step! It is amazing the difference. It really brings out the understated sheen. I really do love the final product.
I'll definitely be doing some more chalk paint projects. In fact I am hoping to find some pieces tomorrow morning when I go out to garage sales.

Crafting ADD

I've noticed that I am somewhat obsessive and ADD about my creating and crafting. I get in a sewing mode and I sew non-stop for months and then super suddenly I am done for awhile. I actually have 2 dresses (one for each little girl) sitting partially finished on my sewing table as I write this and they have been there for a month or so.
So, what have I been doing these past several (ok, many many) weeks since I last posted? Well, I made super cute necklaces and bracelets for the girls for Easter to go with their dresses that I did not make. I did make their hair pretties though. The better picture of the bracelets and necklaces are on my other camera and I'm too lazy to go dig it out and download them right now. So, this will have to do for the moment.

 

Also this past month we refinanced our house. In an attempt to help it appraise as high as possible (we wanted to get rid of our mortgage insurance) we did a bunch of work around the house fixing little things, replacing light fixtures, and cleaning and organizing until I was a walking zombie. I hung pictures, decorated a little bit more, and tried to make things as appealing as possible.
Add to the crazy mix of the past few months ward conferences. I am in the stake primary presidency (women who are in charge of all of the children's programs at church for 7 congregations in the area) and so during ward conferences we go to each congregation and take over everything so that the leaders in the individual congregations can attend the adult meetings for the day. It is extremely tiring. I love it, but I am very grateful that they are over with for another year.
Well, the creative blues were starting to creep up on me again and my sewing machine just wasn't calling to me. What to do what to do? I've been hearing and reading about chalk paint for quite some time and decided that it was time for me to jump on the bandwagon and try it out. I got this cute little side table at Goodwill the other day for $15. It is seriously banged up and in desperate need of a facelift.

 It is the perfect candidate for a chalk paint makeover. I toyed with the idea of doing a homemade recipe of chalk paint, but ended up going with the Annie Sloan chalk paint with clear and dark wax. I even bought one of her brushes. I want to see how the "real" stuff works. I do want to try a homemade recipe on something else in the near future though. I'll keep you all updated on what I think.
I bought a quart of Old White chalk paint, which is generic enough that I can find plenty of uses for it in pretty much any room in my house. I'll try a homemade recipe with something a different color at some point. I just can't rationalize paying the high price for another color.
So, that is what I am working on. I'll post the after pictures when the table is all finished. There is a HUGE neighborhood yard sale in my area this weekend and I am hoping to pick up a few furniture pieces that need to have a paint brush taken to them. Here's hoping!

Yard

The kids were doing a bit of yard work, and by that I really do mean a little tiny bit. Our backyard consists of pool, concrete, and fake grass putting green. There are two trees in planters and two little flower areas. The front yard has two topiary trees (at least that is what we call them), some roses, a big climbing "paper" tree, and a weird grass like ground cover stuff. So, it is a pretty low maintenance yard. But, between the front walkway and the driveway is this odd little strip of ground that was full of flowers which had been taken over by weeds and snails which was causing the flowers to die. Whatever. I wasn't super attached to the flowers anyhow.
In anticipation of needing to park 3 cars in our driveway the space needed to be more user friendly, Hugging the side of the suburban while getting in and out of it with little girls in tow was really annoying. So, I solved the problem. Around 50 flagstones and a few flats of moss and a lot of work and it is so much nicer! The moss will spread and fill in all of the space between the flagstones. It will be much easier to give a kid the job of pulling weeds because anything taller than 2 inches gets pulled. They can totally figure that one out without getting confused between a flowering plant and a weed. Hahaha!

So, now we can walk in the area and I still have a splash of color from a few pots of flowers. The sprinklers water the moss and the flowers. I'm loving this new solution!

Princess Party

What little girl doesn't want a princess party? So far all of my girls have wanted one, so I kind of have things figured out by now. So daughter #3 had her princess party on Saturday to celebrate her 4th birthday. She had informed me that Cinderella was her favorite princess, so she starred in the party.
Decorations were pretty simple. Pink crepe paper streamers all over the place with pink balloons that we taped up with the streamers. I'm not a huge fan of regular balloons because I am fairly paranoid until they are all in the garbage and away from little people who think that they want to "help" blow them up. But, on the other hand I am too cheap to buy the fancy balloons. You know the kind, they are $4-$8 apiece at the party store or grocery store. Well, the other day I stopped at the dollar store and discovered that they sell them! So a helium filled "fancy" balloon is $1. I can do those sort of prices. So, we got several princess balloons to add to the party atmosphere.

We asked that all of the princesses come dressed in their finery. My two little girls loved getting dressed up for the party. The birthday girl was of course Cinderella and the little sister wore a princess dress I had made a few years ago for Halloween. Add the tiaras and they were perfect!

For the cake I decided to do the traditional doll cake. We found a Cinderella barbie at the store and then I used my Pampered Chef mixing bowl to bake the cake (it takes two to get the height needed). Add some frosting, color and roll out the fondant, stick the doll in, and then finish off with some frosting and edible pearls.

But then I got to thinking, where would I put the candles? So, I made some cupcakes to go around the base. I found some cute cupcake wraps, picks, and then the perfect candles. For the frosting I tried the jello frosting that has been going around Pinterest. I got the perfect pink color with a yummy flavor from strawberry jello. It is a pretty good frosting, but not for everything.

I had plenty of games and activities to keep little girls entertained and busy. We made necklaces.

 Had a royal ball freeze dance.

 

 

 Played Pin the Kiss on the Frog.

 We colored princess pictures, played poison apple (hot potato, but with an apple), and find Cinderella's slipper (hot and cold). It was a lot of fun to introduce the girls to traditional party games. Most of them had never played them. Lots of fun!

Then we opened presents and had cupcakes (we ended up saving the cake for the next day which was her actual birthday).

 It was a wonderful party. The birthday girl had a great time, and we heard that the visiting princesses loved it as well. Yay!

Matching outfits

One of the joys of having two little girls is being able to dress them super cute and matchy. I'm sure I've said that before, but I really am thoroughly enjoying it. I loved it the first time around with my two big girls. But, this time it is even better. Why? Well, I have more time to sew for them. I have more money, although not excessively so. And, I realize that eventually they refuse to let you dress them the same. Just the thought of trying to get my 14 year old and 12 year old daughters to dress "matchy" is cracking me up. Hahahaha!
I sewed these pants and shirts for the little girls the other day, but I'm just having Alissa model it this time. I didn't even get her hair done or the hair pretty put in. Ugh! Oh well, at least you can see the outfit. I think that they turned out really cute. I'm looking forward to some warmer weather (yes I know, I live in Southern California, it is pretty much always relatively warm) so that they can wear them together. It really needs to be in the 80's to be comfortable in these very summery outfits.

A day of love

Valentine's Day is kind of a funny holiday in my mind. It does feel a little contrived and it can put unnecessary pressure on loved ones. When my sweet husband and I were very first married we were of course poor college students. When Valentine's Day rolled around we were just coming up on our 2 month anniversary. I opted to make sugar cookies for my love and make a nice dinner. We decided that Valentine's Day would be a stay at home sort of a holiday and a tradition was born.
Every year (although I am sure I have missed a year or two over the past 20 years) I make sugar cookies. The kids usually help me decorate all of them and we have a great time. The other tradition we have is that I make a super fancy dinner. We get out the nice dishes, champagne glasses, fancy goblets, eat by candlelight, etc. In other words I pull out all the stops for this particular dinner.
This year I decided to do steaks, baked asparagus, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, and king crab legs. Oh, and of course you can't forget the sparkling apple cider. These crab legs were absolutely enormous. We had to put one of the claws on the plate for the picture because the legs stuck off of the plate by about 5 inches on either side. So yummy!

Valentine's Day to me is a day to tell not only my wonderful husband how much I love him, but also my fabulous children. We don't do gifts, and rarely even do flowers (I can't stand that florists double their prices for the few days before and after Valentine's Day!). It is not a stressful holiday. It is all about family, and for that reason it is one of my favorite holidays.

I didn't disappear!

I knew I was getting behind on my posts, but I didn't realize it was this bad! Despite my lack of posting I actually have been creating like crazy. I've been on a serious sewing kick. And by that I mean, I've been doing almost nothing else. Have I mentioned before that I think I get a little OCD about things? Yeah, I get going on something, and if it is something that I like doing, I get a little out of control. I obsessively continue in whatever the activity tends to be. Too bad I don't like exercise or house cleaning, or at least not yet. I suppose there is still hope for me in those areas.
I've been buying fabric of course, but I've also been trying to use up some of the fun fabric that I already had on hand. With that in mind I made two almost matching skirts for the little girls. They are made with 3 coordinating black and cream fabrics. I had Alissa wear her skirt to church with some Persnickity (dang I love their clothes! Many of my creations are inspired by their things.) lace ruffled leggings and lace t-shirt. She was too cute for words. Oh, and of course she was sporting the matching hair pretty that I had made as well.

Here is where I promise to do better. Hahaha. I guess time will tell.